Just Work It Out!

Hi Readers, 

A bright and sunny day for a change after a few weeks of pretty crappy weather here where we live. Not complaining though, as there is diddly squat we can do about it, so why worry? Still, I'll appreciate the good days when they come!!

I find it amazing still that I get an idea for a post, and for the next few days I just keep getting new ideas to add to that post or things happen that relate directly to what I want to write about. 

Maybe it's because my mind is more alert to things related to the post and that's why they resonate with me. It's like when I have been looking for a new car (and hasn't that happened a lot over the past 3 years!!) and I set my mind on a particular make and model. Then whenever I am driving around I keep seeing that type of car everywhere!

The opposite also happens.

When I had my motorbike I would always be checking out other bikes I'd see in the street or passing by. Now that I've sold mine I only give other bikes a fleeting glance as they go by. As much as I loved having mine, because I know that I can't ride one safely anymore it has taken away the yearning and longing to have one again. I had my time in the sun with my motorbikes, now it's time for something else.

Which brings me to the inspiration for this post, which came from our 5 year old Grandson, Henry.

A year or so ago I bought him a bike for Christmas. He'd get along on it fine with his trainer wheels, and was always keen to get them off and start riding solo.

Due to where they lived it wasn't always a safe place to learn to ride a bike, and their property didn't have enough space. Then they spent much of this year living overseas while the bike stayed at home. A few weeks ago I was up in Qld visiting and was able to get him on his bike a few times in their backyard that had been landscaped to include enough space to start riding a bike in. It was frustrating for him at first as he hadn't been on it for so long, so I didn't push him. If he wanted to have a crack we'd do it, and if he didn't want to, then we didn't.

Imagine my surprise when I get sent a video clip last week showing him scooting around the front of their house as if he'd been doing it for years.

Our son said that Henry just decided one day that he was going to ride his bike on his own, and after minimal trial and error he just nailed it so quickly. Even they were amazed at how quickly he mastered the art of riding without the trainers on.

This clip may or may not work! Sorry!!!

What impressed me the most was that he wasn't pushed or forced into it, he just made up his mind that he was ready to do it. Sure, he needed some help at the start, but as he had made up his mind to do it he was well on the way to success already. He was just ready and able to work it out.

I remember when I was teaching his dad to ride a bike many, many years ago. Sam got on a bit of a roll and was pedalling away from me, but there was a large tree looming ahead and it didn't look as if he was going to miss it. Rather than rush ahead and save hime from the impending collision, I just let him decide for himself what to do. I thought he might veer left or right to go around it. WRONG!!

He just kept pedalling right into the tree.

He might have been just a little bit hurt, but he got over it.  I think. (He still reminds me about it to this day though!!!) But the main thing was that he never did it again as he realised he needed to work it out so that it wouldn't happen again.

It might have been a harsh lesson, but it wasn't repeated by his two younger brothers as he complained constantly about it when we were teaching them to ride their bikes.

Surprisingly, neither of them crashed into a tree!!!

Henry learning to master the skill of riding a bike was the impetus for this post, then as I was browsing the book section in a store last week I came across this book.

I have always admired Travis Boak as a sportsman long before I found out even more about him. I heard him in a podcast and was really touched by the way he has understood how the things that have happened in his life have helped him to become who he is. This book was just screaming out at me to buy, so I did.

I'm only 40 or so pages in, and as I said in a former post, when I read and come across something that really gets me thinking I often re-read it a few times, or stop there for the day just so that I can reflect upon it. That's why it takes me so long to read books!!!

Anyway, he relates a story about how he was playing cricket in an important game when he was about 15. He was usually one of their best bowlers, but on this day he just felt like he bowled rubbish all day, and at the end of the game was really down on himself.

His Dad had been watching all day but said nothing. As they got to the car Travis said "I want to go to the nets to practice", so his Dad took him there. Dad set up some cones and just said "Aim for these" and then did nothing else for the next 2 hours while Travis bowled at the cones and tried to work it out. No barking of instructions from his Dad, just encouragement.

At the end of the session Travis realised he had worked out what he needed to do, and that although his Dad seemed to do very little, he had in fact done so much. He enabled Travis to work it out himself, which always makes the learning become embedded.

This is just what Henry's parents had done, gave lots of encouragement and support rather than overpowering him with instructions. They let him work out what works for him.

Having had this epiphany after seeing how both Henry and Travis both achieved success purely by having a crack and trying to work things out for themselves, I started wondering how I could do the same.

Being retired now I have a bit of time on my hands, but there are still lots of things to do that don't get done because I just don't know how to do them, or are just too lazy to actually try and work them out.

There is a tap in my yard that drips endlessly, but I just couldn't get it off the wall. I went and picked out a tap to replace it, then thought "What if it's not the whole tap, just something else?" So after fossicking around in the toolboxes and a bit of googling, I had the tap off, tested a few washers and Bingo!! Tap fixed and that constant puddle has not been seen for days.

In a recent post I mentioned how the World's Worst Gardener (ie, me) had actually started planting things. Well, it has been a few weeks now and nothing has died. Quite the opposite, the garden is flourishing. Today I managed to figure out how to feed the plants properly! I know that sounds mediocre to all of you, but for me it has been huge!!!

The best part of this has been that Jen has been getting fresh roses on her grave every day now. Rather than just let the roses wilt on the vine and drop away, I'm making sure that a fresh bunch from her garden is placed with her every day while they are still around. Just this small act gives me such incentive to honour the rest of the garden that she lovingly put so much work into, I'd hate to disrespect this work.

Admittedly, my flower arranging skills were pretty pathetic with this first effort, but things are looking so much better a week or so later!!

 One thing that challenges me at the moment is trying to reach the crimson and white roses at the top as they are just the best. I've had a few near misses with my dodgy legs, I just don't want to risk damaging them again!!

I can't speak for you, but for me, just kicking these little goals feels like I have climbed Mt Everest some days! Especially when i work out a few 'minor' things in the same day!

I had quite a few tap issues in the yard with sprinklers and watering systems, but rather than 'calling in the man' I decided to have a crack on my own first, and I did it. This just gave me extra incentive to have a crack at other tasks, and you guessed it, nailed them too!!

Giving yourself the time to try and solve things before giving in to them is so self rewarding, I might even keep trying to do it!!

The first part of Travis Boak's book goes into great detail about the relationship that he had with his Dad, and how he coped with losing him over a two year period to cancer, and how he copes now. I found this very hard to read, but appreciated his openness and honesty so much as it had so many parallels to what we went through with Jen when she was sick. Just like Travis, I have learnt so much about myself, especially since retiring and there still so many things I am trying to work out. As he experienced, the loss never stops, it just gets different, and trying to adapt to it and make meaning from it is what I just need to keep trying to work out.

Another thing that I have been working out lately is how to teach again!!

Yep, I have been back in the classroom over the past few weeks after deciding to make myself available for relief work at my old school. I ran into one of Jen's old colleagues who had retired, but decided to do a bit of CRT work just to see if she'd regret not giving it a try. This struck a chord with me, as I had also been thinking if I'd regret not giving it a try. After 38 years of teaching it is not as easy as it sounds to go cold turkey, well, not for me anyway. I did have to stay in Bendigo quite a bit these few months due to various doctor appointments and tests that I've been having, so I decided to have a crack at a few days. These few days have grown into quite a few days, and I'm actually enjoying it. 

But in the space of less than a year, the method of teaching has changed dramatically so I really had to work it out even though I was still getting lots of support from other teachers at the school. If anything, the kids were probably teaching me, rather than the opposite!!

So Readers, not only have I been trying to work out whether I still wanted to teach or not, having made that decision, I now have to try and work out how teaching is being done now!!

Regardless of the changes though, it has been overwhelmingly positive with the welcoming back from the kids and staff that have made the transition so rewarding. I'll power through to the end of the year and when 2026 comes around I'll see how I feel about continuing on with it.

Perhaps the funniest thing happened yesterday when I was collecting a Gr 1 class from their teacher who I get on so well with, and we were ribbing each other and teasing each other a bit in a fun way in front of his class. After I left, one of the kids asked him "Is Mr K your Dad?"

He couldn't find me quick enough to tell me!! 😂

Not a very lengthy post this week Readers, as I'm going to work out how to cut off some of those high roses and take them to Jen. I'll make sure that I do it carefully, but I'll work it out!!

Until my next post,

Cheers 😁