Monday, May 18, 2009

The Unicycle: A Loathsome Device

I wanted Eli 7.9 to learn how to ride a unicycle because I wanted him to learn what effort meant. Since the unicycle has a brutal learning curve, I expected him to fail and fail and fail.

That would be good for him.

I decided to learn with him, so that when he got discouraged, I'd be there to keep him going. Then, when he finally did learn how to ride, he'd understand that he could overcome almost any obstacle with enough effort.

Life lesson. Cue theme music.

Irony: I now despise the unicycle. I have failed and failed and failed. It does not, however, feel like it's good for me.

Eli 7.9 on the other hand, rode 100 feet during unicycle club on Friday. It could have been farther, but he just ran out of gym.

Today, we went out to practice on two outdoor basketball courts.

Very early on, he rode 125 feet. It was awesome.

Later, he started riding across the width of both courts. As he neared the side of the court, I figured he'd ridden about 140 feet, which would be another record. At that moment, he started a graceful turn and began riding back.

All told, it was 235 feet.

He's only been doing this for two months, and sporadically at that.

Meanwhile, I was riding along the edge of the courts, holding on to a fence.

I'm just waiting for him to say "Dad, I'm proud of you for continuing to try. Learning to ride the unicycle is hard, but when you can do it, you'll know that you can do anything."

Cue theme music.

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