My big small boy

Jack isn't a particularly adventurous child, and I'm usually glad of that. He doesn't like when things go too fast or are too high. Physically, he can be clumsy, but he's rarely reckless. He generally won't climb something that's too high for him or wander too far away from me. I do worry sometimes, though, that he can be too fearful. I would hate for him to miss out on fun experiences simply because he was too afraid to try. I also worry that, as a boy, he'll be teased by other kids if they think he's scared of certain things.

Last Friday, we checked out a local co-op preschool. They had a cool little merry-go-round that four kids could ride and pedal on. At first, Jack was the only child on it. Since he's still not very good at pedaling, it was pretty much going nowhere fast. Then a little girl decided to "help" Jack and started pushing him faster and faster.

"Too fast!" Jack screamed. "Too fast! I'm just a little teeny boy!"

A teacher intervened and made the little girl stop. But then three other kids got on it who did know how to pedal, and the merry-go-round started going faster again.

I heard Jack wail, "Too fast for a small boy! Too fast for a small boy!"

I finally persuaded him to get off and let the bigger kids go fast for awhile.

Today, we went to a birthday party at a place that had a great big indoor play structure that kids could run and climb and swing and slide on. At first Jack was nervous.

"Daddy pick me up!" he begged. "I'm too scared. I'm just a little boy."

He kept saying, "I'm scared. I'm a small boy!"

But then he started warming up to it and really having fun.

A few minutes later, Tom asked him, "Are you still scared? Are you a little boy?"

And Jack said, "No, now I'm a bigger boy."