Frustration

What frustrates you?

I feel like we live right on the edge of cliff.  One step to the right and things are great.  One step to the left and we are free failing into the deep canyon of frustration.  It can be a little like a Road Runner cartoon.  We step off into the canyon but sometimes we can stop in midair and get back to the cliff.  Other times, we fall like a lead balloon.

Yes, the frustration mostly belongs to B.  It is his body that he can't make work the way he wants.  It's his hands that wouldn't make the craft he's seen on YouTube.  The words to help us understand  are trapped inside his head, not mine.

I do share the frustration, though.  It's frustrating to watch this little person you love so much struggle.  It kills me.

And yet...

There are times I lead him to the edge and I refuse to help.  I know he must feel the frustration in order to figure things out.  In these moments, I fight with myself.  How long do I let this go on?  When do I step in?

Part of my job, and Ryan's job, is to decide what things warrant frustration and what do we shield him from.  Currently, I am letting him experience frustration in his creations.  I'm not going to step in and make things for him.  They aren't my projects.

He's cooked up an idea for a gadget that will scan a Pokemon and make it come to life. He assigned me the job of "coding it all up and putting in on a chip'.  Ummm, what? That sounds like the whole thing.  I don't know how to code, I'm not interested in learning to code and I surely don't want a bunch of living Pokemon in my house.  It already smells like dogs and feet around here, I'm sure Pokemon smell bad too.  So, I told him no, I would not code it all up and put it on a chip.  If he wanted it done, he'd have to figure it out himself.

We spend a lot of time talking about failure.  We tell him it's ok if the Pokemon scanner thing doesn't work.
Just keep trying.
Not everything happens the right way right away.