I've always been intrigued by people who can do parkour. It may have something to do with the climbing of anything and everything. I'm serious. To those who parkour, the entire world is a playground. The ability to flip at will is pretty cool as well. While I have cool dreams of being able to parkour like a superhero, the fact of the matter is that I'll always end up looking like Michael, Dwight, and Andy in that scene from 'The Office'. However, even if it's (likely) too late for me, it's good to know that my kids still have a chance to be skilled parkour masters.
As (I'm guessing) is the case with any parkour master, it's important to start small. Once again, allow me to emphasize that most of my knowledge of parkour is limited to 'American Ninja Warrior', that scene from the 'The Office', and random YouTube videos. For Ethan, his journey into parkour starts simply enough. It starts with a somersault.
Since the first time he saw Bethany, Ellie, and me all having a somersault "competition", Ethan has been overcome by the desire to pull off the perfect somersault all by himself. Whenever the urge arises, Ethan will stand up nice and tall. Then he'll bend at the waist while placing his head on the floor in front of him. Then, it's only a matter of seconds until one of two things happens: either he uses the slightest little jump to propel himself over in a flip OR Ellie comes and simply flips him over. Once the flip is complete, he stands up again and with a big smile on his face, proceeds to somersault all over again.
For Ellie, her quest towards being a parkour master has advanced past the simple flips of her brother and have escalated to...THE MONKEY BARS!
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| For the record, these pictures are from Hodge Park, NOT Macken Park. |
Now, I realize that the monkey bars might not be such a big deal to most people. However, they are to me. As a kid, I was never able to successfully navigate the monkey bars. I don't know if it was due to me not being physically able or if I didn't try hard enough. However, the fact remains that the monkey bars are a metaphorical white whale of mine. Even today, I have dreams of successfully completing a set from start to finish. For Ellie though, those dreams are already a thing of the past seeing as how she's already successfully crossed the monkey bars in the past. That being said, her accomplishment yesterday deserves to be remembered.
Due to the beautiful November weather we are currently experiencing, the kids and I spent yesterday afternoon at Macken Park in North Kansas City. After about 40 minutes of playing, Ellie noticed the park's set of monkey bars and was immediately drawn to them.
Now, I should add that these aren't normal monkey bars. This set is so tall that I can walk underneath them without having to duck or avoid banging my head. Obviously, there was no way for Ellie to reach that high up so she needed a little bit of help to get started. Like any good dad, I went ahead and helped her and then stepped back and watched nervously.
Well, as it turned out, my nervous feelings were all in vain. Swinging her little body back and forth like a champ, Ellie successfully navigated her way across the set of monkey bars for the most part. She only released her grip and dropped to the ground once she was on the fifth of six handholds. While most kids would be happy with their achievement, Ellie isn't most kids. She wanted to be lifted back up for a second go at it. Somewhat unfortunately for Ellie, her grip gave out after only making it halfway across the bars on her second try.
Regardless of Ellie's lack of success on the second attempt, I was overjoyed to see the excitement bursting across her little face due to her achievement. In fact, she just kept mentioning over and over again that she was just so impressed with herself. In my opinion, she should be. After all, it's not everyday that a four-year-old little girl is well on her way to becoming a parkour master.
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| Moments after snapping this pic, Ellie had a nice little parkour-style jump off of this ledge and I had to run in and grab Ethan before he followed suit. |
For the record, I haven't completely given up on my dream of being a parkour master as well. I'll have you know that I actually made it 3/4 of the way across the monkey bars as well. Yeah, I didn't complete the course but I'll take that result over nothing. #DaddyWrite
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