A Safety Net

Yesterday after work we headed out to put in our time at the riverfront trail – Nick and I running while Mack rode his bike. Following the challenge schedule we needed to four sets of run five minutes, walk five minutes and this seems to be a perfect pace for Mackenzie.

We tell him to “ride hard” when it is a running segment and then we ask him to slow down when we are on our walking portions. He still rides faster than we can keep up with so we have taught him to circle back when he gets too far ahead of us.

So far, this seems to be the perfect family time. Spencer rides along in the jogger stroller, mom and dad get a workout in, and Mackenzie gets in some recreational time with us as well. Every body wins

And I’ve noticed that Mackenzie takes advantage of the safety net Nick and I provide.

Let me explain.

If Nick or myself are right there close to Mack when he gets to a tricky part in the trail – a hill for example – he will immediately ask for help before even trying to conquer the hill on his own. He slows his pedaling pace to the point where he basically falls off his bike, insuring that he will get the “help that he needs.”

If, however, he is way up on the trail and neither mom nor dad are close enough to be of immediate assistance he will simply pedal up the hill without so much as a second thought.

Now, I am happy to be his safety net. I want him to know that he can always reach out to us for help – and that we will be there to help him in whatever capacity we are able.

What got me thinking is how often we, as grown ups, rely on safety nets we have in place. We stick to crappy jobs where we don’t have to think for ourselves as a safety net against being wrong from time to time. We keep our opinions to ourselves as a safety net against having a dissenting point of view. We manufacture excuses for failure as a safety net against actually failing – well this, this and this happened so it wasn’t my fault. I did what I could and so there was no failure here.

The problem is that sometimes we need to break away from the safety net. Need to experience failure if only to show us where we can improve and to teach us appreciation for the successes that come later.

I think us moms use our children as our safety net too – well, I am just so busy with the kids so there is no time for (fitness, education, friendships, etc)… Being busy with our children is a safety net for actually dealing with the things we maybe don’t feel like dealing with.

I’ve written before about having time for everything. And there is, in fact, time for everything that matters to you.

So what is it for you, what is your safety net? And is it time to break away?

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Also, for the folks on the turkey trot challenge – please include your goals for the week in the comments section below!