what motivates a toddler to take their first trips down the slide at the playground (peer pressure, parental encouragement, sheer curiosity), but none of these have much effect on Holden. He has been taking it nice and slow when it comes to that slippery centerpiece of most playgrounds we visit. Most of the time, he is simply not interested -- even when he sees friends or kids his age having so much fun going down the slide.
Months ago, Holden started gaining some interest, exploring the slide by climbing up from the bottom -- and often blocking other kids attempts to slide down (until we pull him away and unblock the slide). He may have slid down once or twice this summer with both mommy and daddy guiding him slowly down. Nothing to be afraid, of, right? But he still seems very nervous when it comes to the slide.
I do wonder if my own past experiences with the "angry slide" may have an impact on how unconsciously (or perhaps very consciously) nervous I am about slides. When I was a wee toddler (a bit older than Holden), I came barreling down a sliding board, fell off the end, and broke my leg. I had to wear a huge cast, and my parents jerry-rigged a folding chair to use as a makeshift crutch (since they really didn't make crutches for kids that young and small). Most of my memories of this event and injury come from stories that my parents have told me, but I have never forgotten this incident (likely very traumatic at the time -- and enough to linger with me as a parent). It is entirely possible that every time Holden toddles near the top of the sliding board, I run over to make sure he's not going to hurt himself, hence making him much less interested in the adventure of sliding down on his own.
But today, there was some evidence that I'm getting better, and so was Holden. When we were at the playground, he saw a friend of his go down the slide several times, and after deliberation, Holden followed. And I can prove that I wasn't standing there to grab his arm or guide him down since I took these photos (hoping to have proof for myself that he might actually enjoy the slide).
While this may be a long tangent about Holden and slides, I think this is one of those stages of parenting when we over-analyze everything we do (or don't do). And with our little guy on the verge of being a 2-year-old, it's hard not to be worried about all the new things he can do ... including going down the slide.
