Preconceived notions

We try to avoid preconceived notions with Quinn. Trouble is, the beach in Nova Scotia holds so many memories for me that it was difficult not to push things at him. In the end I think it worked out just right.

The first couple days we were there, we showed him everything. The dry sand at the top of the beach; the wet sand on the sandbars; and the clay. The tidal pools; the streams draining tidal pools; and swimming at high tide. The hermit crabs and ticklefish and starfish and jellyfish. Throwing rocks from water's edge. Boat rides. Grandparents and cousins and friendly strangers. The whole 9 yards, fully all 27 feet. As you can imagine he was a little overwhelmed - the biggest sandbox in the world, the biggest swimming pool in the world, and full-court-press family attention. This was me struggling with the preconceived notions.

By Day 3 he was crabby. We decided to take a day off from playing on the beach and stayed in the yard instead (something he's also not used to having given our postage-stamp-sized lawn...but at least it's more familiar). The next day we returned to the beach and let him find his comfort zone. He gravitated to throwing stones into the water from water's edge. Later he began exploring around the edge of sandbars, throwing Bec's sandals into the water and watching them float away (sometimes even retrieving them). Then he started venturing deeper into the water and climbing up on rocks. You could watch his world begin to expand. By the time we left he was eager in the water, jumping off a raft into Bec's arms, trying out a floaty-thing. He's amazingly adaptable, as I suppose all kids are at that age. I was impressed at how quickly, really, he went from overwhelmed to completely at home in his new surroundings.

Grampa's got tractors, and Uncle John's got a boat and is a fireman; Grampy's got a lawnmower and a fireplace. I was beginning to wonder what Daddy brought to the table. Maybe my preconceived notions are the best I've got. Maybe that's why so many parents seem to push their kids into things that the kids aren't so much into. But for desperately wanting him to like the beach and everything I loved about it growing up, I realized I had to let him discover it for himself. Thankfully, he seemed to arrive at the same conclusions on his own. Maybe a preconceived notion's not so bad after all, so long as it's not forced too much.