Every year the kid's school does a "turkey trot" race on the week before Thanksgiving. Not every kid is allowed to race….they have trials at the beginning of November. This year Connor qualified, but Maddy did not.
(Maddy doing some pre-race motivation)
Last year Connor qualified but came in 4th. He was so upset. Angry and frustrated because he was "ignored" since he only had 4th. He was jealous of his friends who won medals and just miserable about the whole situation.
Fast forward to this year. Connor qualified and even did extra practices for the big day. He was running just under 8 minutes for the 1 mile. I knew he was probably not going to win this year (there are some FAST kids 5th grade) and we talked about not being upset but just trying his best.
He didn't seem too worried about losing and was very laid back about the competition.
The race took off and I could see right away that there was no way he was going to place. But he kept pushing along and finished in 6th place with a time of 7:41. He was exhausted but thrilled that he beat his best time. He wasn't upset or angry about not being the best in class, but happy that he saw improvement in himself. I was pretty happy about that too!
But the best part was later. I was snapping some shots of the crowd of kids gathered around waiting for the awards to be passed out. I didn't realize that I caught this until after I downloaded the pictures. Connor glanced over and saw his friend who had struggled a lot and come in dead last. While everyone else was cheering and happy, Connor noticed his friend looked dejected. He called his friend over and gave him a high five, put his arm around him and told him that he did an amazing job. I only caught part of the conversation but I was floored. To go from freaking out last year to consoling others this year-What an amazing change of heart! My boy is growing up and I am so proud of the choices he is making.
Bad shot of Connor but I cropped it out of the group shot...this must have been where he noticed *Josh* (name changed) looking upset.
Giving knuckles and high fives.
A little encouragement and support....
(Maddy doing some pre-race motivation)
Last year Connor qualified but came in 4th. He was so upset. Angry and frustrated because he was "ignored" since he only had 4th. He was jealous of his friends who won medals and just miserable about the whole situation.
The race took off and I could see right away that there was no way he was going to place. But he kept pushing along and finished in 6th place with a time of 7:41. He was exhausted but thrilled that he beat his best time. He wasn't upset or angry about not being the best in class, but happy that he saw improvement in himself. I was pretty happy about that too!
But the best part was later. I was snapping some shots of the crowd of kids gathered around waiting for the awards to be passed out. I didn't realize that I caught this until after I downloaded the pictures. Connor glanced over and saw his friend who had struggled a lot and come in dead last. While everyone else was cheering and happy, Connor noticed his friend looked dejected. He called his friend over and gave him a high five, put his arm around him and told him that he did an amazing job. I only caught part of the conversation but I was floored. To go from freaking out last year to consoling others this year-What an amazing change of heart! My boy is growing up and I am so proud of the choices he is making.
Bad shot of Connor but I cropped it out of the group shot...this must have been where he noticed *Josh* (name changed) looking upset.
Giving knuckles and high fives.
A little encouragement and support....
No comments:
Post a Comment
Blah Blah Blah! I know you want to let me know what you think! :)