The plan was to look at Oxymorons because they are hilarious. However, the best thing about our outlook on learning is that we can change on a dime based on the interests of the kids.
Ben’s mini-bike underwent some modifications and enhancements over the weekend, which allowed him to go faster and jump higher. When he and his dad stopped at Motorcycle Madness over the weekend for some parts, and some goggles for Bean, the owners pointed out a wall of trophies and told Ben he was headed for greatness if he kept on practicing and riding in his every free moment.
Thankfully, they also talked to him about continuing to think about safety at all times, and to think things through. (This Mommy thanks them!)
Ben doesn’t need a whole lot of encouragement to dream of greatness. It comes to him naturally. So – he floored it when he got home and tore around corners on his track and threw himself over the handlebars. Dinnertime was spent reliving the glory of everything happening in slow motion.
My husband jumped in to talk about safety again, because if it were up to me, Ben would be trying to ride in a 3 foot thick bubble suit, and that would not be any fun at all. Scott knows this and stresses safety at every opportunity.
He also explained to Ben the whole idea of Stretching the Story, Enhancing, telling Tall Tales – I threw in Poetic License. The point is, he had the crash. He took the pain. Now, in the retelling of the story at school, there are some embellishments that can be made. It’s all good. It’s what every daredevil does. Heck, even fishermen exaggerate their catch.
Ben will have some bruises today to go along with his story.
Since we were talking about racing, and winning, I decided that for Language & Literature night we would take a look at some Victory Speeches. I suggested this, and said that instead of doing Oxymorons tonight, we could switch it up. Ben said, “How about we look for Victory Speeches using Spoonerisms” (from our last week’s fun. I love that he remembers.)
As fun as it is to win, accepting the trophy takes some grace, some thought and some planning. There is a whole team behind a winner, and giving credit to everyone involved is something anyone who wants to get to the top needs to learn how to do.
We watched an amazing speech by the youngest person to ever win in this particular category.
The announcer was going crazy over this kid, and what impressed us all was how modest the winner was and how he didn’t even say the word “I” in his victory speech. He kept using “we” and he spoke of the car, and he spoke of the person who built the car making it so easy to drive. He gave so much credit to his team.
We talked about it a lot after watching the video. We talked about the difference in the movie “Cars” from the first time Lightening McQueen is shown as a selfish, self-serving winner, to when he learns to value his team and shower them with praise.
The thing is, someone who is arrogant and thinks it’s all about him may win a race, but if he doesn’t win the hearts of the crowd, no one will come to see him win. You have to have people in the stands. And that takes an attitude of inclusion – bringing everyone into the moment with you. Being a good winner takes practice.
I could see it in Ben’s eyes that he got it. He has big dreams, and huge plans. He also wants to have people in the stands to see him win. So, he is going to practice this modesty thing.
Photos by Scott Garner – of Ben riding.