We were enjoying our annual boating trip one year with family and friends. Our son was four years old and wanted to do everything the ‘big kids’ were doing. We had purchased a new toy that year, and he was dying to try it out. The kneeboard looked like a fun toy that could be enjoyed by all ages. Some of the parents and older kids tried it out first, to see how it worked, and if the ‘little ones’ could give it a go.
Finally, we let our son take a turn. Instead of starting out on his belly, then sitting on his knees and strapping himself in, my husband strapped our son’s knees to the board as tight as possible because our four-year-old was so light and could easily float on top of the water. My husband helped our son balance the kneeboard as I slowly drove the boat away from shore. For 15 seconds, our son was having the time of his life! He quickly tried to go outside the wake like everyone else and flipped that board! My heart sank. The board was laying up-side-down in the water with this little four-year-old attached to it. I turned the boat around as fast as I could, and before anyone else really knew what was going on, I dove out of the boat from the driver’s seat. As I got to the board, I could not flip it over by myself. All I could see is this little guys lips sucking in air between the up-side-down kneeboard and the water. I dove under the water and undid the Velcro holding his knees tightly to the board. His lifejacket helped him pop right up. We got that resourceful little guy to laugh at the fact that he knew to get his mouth out of the water enough to breath. It took him a day or two, but our son had a great time on the kneeboard that week. I made sure that he could ride the kneeboard, as long as no one strapped him down. He knee-boarded his own way, strapless. Not only did he have a great time doing what everyone else was doing, he did it his own way, and did it with style! Although our son got over his fear of the kneeboard, my husband and I felt so guilty about our #parentfail.
As a parent, you never want to put your child in danger. We had no idea the danger our son was in and what could have happened that day at the lake. In fact, we thought we were taking very good care of him when we strapped him tightly to the kneeboard. Many times life is that way. You go into a situation where you think you are doing the right thing for everyone involved when something goes wrong. You make sure that your kid is buckled in, not knowing that buckling them in to protect them will put the child in danger. What we need to keep in mind as we parent our children, is are going to have ‘parent fails’ along the way. Today I want to challenge all of us to keep two things in mind… First it’s important how we handle those ‘parent fails’, and secondly that we continue to do our best and loving, raising, protecting and doing what’s best for our kids.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Hang in there. Parenting is one of the greatest things and one of the hardest things anyone will face in their lives. As we parent, we will have ‘parent fails’, but when they happen, remember, with God on our side, the ‘parent WINS’ will outweigh the times we make mistakes.
