I was trying to pump her Brother's tires up and hp she was pretending to ride her bike. She would pedal once and then walk her bike like a scooter. Then she would stop and ask for praise. And I said her performance was not worthy of praise. Tough love. But, I feel that if you give praise to quickly and easily, you will not get the best performance. She was still afraid of falling so I pushed her over. No not really. But I should have. She did fall over and she realized that it didn't hurt that much. Then it was finding the appropriate motivation. I thought food would be a good motivator and I suggested something from Tim Hortons up the street. She would have to get there though. She countered offered the gas station closer by, and she wanted gum. But that was not enough. Through talking with her she revealed that she thought she was better than her brother. So I told her that she would never be better than her brother until she was better at riding her bike. That did it. From there she rode 100m without assistance. That moved to a lap around the block, and a second, then she purposely went the wrong way, the direction of the gas station. She was not ready for that. When she hit the first major street (not even a major street,just one that had through traffic she could not cross it. She walked across it. And the next street was a street that she had no cause to go on and so had never been there before.
Strange, that as soon as you get on a bike, you can go places that you have never been to before. She started going faster and faster and soon I actually had to pedal to keep ahead of her. We went home and she went inside, but was out in five minutes and wanting to go again. I asked her how many times she wanted to go around the block? It was a sheltered block with light nearly nonexistent traffic and she said ten times. I calculated the block was a 400m trip, so I told her that at four laps I would tell her a secret, that she had just travelled a mile without stopping. She stopped at 3, but did two more before stopping for a break. I told her that five trips around the block was 2!, two kilometers. She later went on another three laps and one with no one with her. She told me that she was then good enough to ride to school. I told her if she rides to school the trip is more than 2 kilometers and she can't stop once, so she might want to hold off for a bit, but she said that she would anyways. I told her that she would have to ride on the sidewalk, because the road was too busy for her. And because she would not follow the rules of the road.
She has a mean streak. When I told her that she had to follow the rules of the road, she yelled out that she would and not to hit her. Which I found disturbing. I found out from her mother that she would often do that to her when they were in public. More than a little disturbing and a trend that if it continues may have the Children's Aid Society coming down on her, much to her daughter's chagrin. One of the unforeseen issues that seems to have developed from her father's 18 months of cancer and his death. I will see them in another two weeks.
Oh, I helped out my friend's wife, cut the lawn, trimmed a couple of trees, moved some furniture. That sort of stuff.
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