Friday, May 30, 2008

Riding horseback and milkin cows

My daughter's kindergarten class spent a fantastic day at the Real Life Farm in Canton recently. They got to ride horses and do "chores" on the farm. They fed the animals, milked the cows, held the baby animals. Parents, teachers and children all had a great time - despite the rain! My proudest moments were when my daughter conquered some serious fears... It all started on a horseback riding trip in North Carolina a few years ago. She was too little to go on the ride up the mountain so we stayed behind to ride an old work horse named cookie. We set her on that old sway back horse and before he could move a muscle she screamed in terror. You'd think we put her on a bucking bronco, wild and unbroken! Poor old Cookie didn't know what to do so he just sat down. She hasn't wanted anything to do with horses since. Fast forward a few years to kindergarten and there we were, sitting on the line of hay bales, waiting for her turn to ride the horse. She was certain of two things - she did not want to ride that horse and everyone else in her class was not afraid to ride that horse. Ah...peer pressure is an amazing thing! When her turn came she gritted her teeth and climbed on. The second pass around the barn we even got a smile!
Then later in the day - she milked a cow! Now she was sure she'd never do that! But there was no way we could get her to touch any of those bunnies, baby goats or hold a kitten - no way!

1 comment:

Robin said...

Good for her!! Great pics :)