Teaching Without Teaching (and Hopefully Not Breaking My Neck)
Can someone in their 40s safely learn to flip on the trampoline? I’m in the process of finding out.
The trampoline we got for our kids’ birthdays has also been really fun for me too. I thought some of us might have gotten bored of it by now, but we keep finding new things to do that don’t feel like they are too big of steps.
At first, everyone was trying to touch the branch above the trampoline, then the one above that, but soon the kids were all trying flips. Mostly successfully!
Not me though, I’m a temporary single parent so I feel like I need to be extra careful with my ability to care for the kids. But I really want to learn how to flip, because I see how easy it is once you learn the technique.
I’ve watched a lot of videos that show progressions toward a back flip and have slowly been working my way closer. One of the big steps is being able to jump up and then land on my back. The first time I tried a back drop was absolutely terrifying. If I didn’t go back far enough I’d risk getting my neck whipped back and if I went back too far I’d land on my neck. I’ve done a bit of both, but it’s now familiar enough that fear is almost gone now.
As I get more comfortable, it makes me curious if I’m over confident that I will be able to flip or if I have learned how I learn and see that I’m getting better at each step of the progressions and that will eventually lead to flipping.
Because I now know what the progression is I have been slowly getting my youngest son to start going through it without him even knowing. When we’re jumping together I find the thing that he hasn’t done yet, but is within his grasp and then just do it myself. He usually can pick up on the fact that he could do it if he tried so that’s what he does. The sweet spot is when he can nail it on his second or third attempt because he sees that it’s difficult, but he was able to do it.
Seeing how much he loves learning in this environment makes me wish all learning could be this way. I’m imagining a mentor that knows where I am and knows what’s next and subtly leads me towards more difficult things as I’m ready. If I have the time to do the research (assuming the info is even available) then sometimes I can provide this for myself. GPT and experts that have started Youtube channels have really unlocked a new way for me to learn.
I’m not in a rush to flip. I want to keep building trust with my body and with the process. And I want to keep setting my son up to crush new challenges without even realizing it.
