Taylor

This afternoon, Taylor was in the backyard trying to teach herself how to jump rope. She has been watching the Berenstein Bears on PBS and saw an episode where Sister is in a Jump Rope contest, thus inspiring Taylor to want to learn how to jump rope. As I watched, from the kitchen, while doing dishes, I could tell she was really struggling, so I went outside to help. I first demonstrated for her and then tried having her practice without the rope. She became very frustrated because she wanted to be like Sister Bear and be able to jump rope good right away just like her. I tried to explain to her that we become good at things by practicing a lot. This was not a good enough explanation for her and she was very upset. I left it at that and thought she would stay outside and practice, but, no. Instead, she followed me around the house for 30 minutes crying to me about why it wasn't fair that she couldn't jump rope and be good like Sister Bear. During this time, I continued to tell her that she needed to practice to become good. Finally, I decided that maybe she would learn better if Devon and I held the rope for her. So, we all went outside and we practiced with her by first saying 1,2,3, jump. At first, she would jump too late or too soon. Then, finally she jumped over the rope. She didn't even realize it because the rope didn't touch or hit her feet--it slid smoothly under. We made a really big deal about it and told her she jumped over the rope. She was sooooo excited!!!! We continued to say 1,2,3, jump over and over and over and over and over and each time she would jump over the rope. She is so excited to finally learn how to jump rope and can't wait to be great at it like Sister Bear!