Success in unexpected places
Raina and Lola participate in the Ethical Navigators, a co-ed, inclusive, intergenerational group of Scouting folks. We love the group because they provide awesome Scouting opportunities that we don't have to organize -- we can literally drop in with little to no experience and learn as we go -- and they are an openly Humanist group, just like we are an openly Humanist family.
The Navigators leadership recently introduced archery to the younger set. Kids and adults learned about different kinds of bows, how bows and arrows are designed, safety procedures, and optimal body positioning for accurate shots. Last week, the kids practiced with Nerf bows and arrows; this weekend, we upgraded to compound and D bows.
My daughters, Raina especially, fell in love with archery. Lola was strong enough to draw the compound bow and shoot it with some measure of success. She had great fun with it, enjoyed her few rounds, and then played elsewhere. Raina refused to leave the archery field. She was in the first set of kids to shoot and she subbed in continuously for the first hour; the archery field opened up for another hour later and she shot arrows for the full time with the adults. Lola hit the target once. Raina progressed from hitting the target sometimes to hitting the target at all times to hitting specific spots on the target. She popped three balloons and was the only person to do so. She just beamed with pride at her growing skill and she worked hard to improve. The temperature was in the 20's, and her fingers were incredibly cold, but her passion to keep at it was admirable.
Mommy helped Lola steady the bow so she could shoot. (Check out how red our hands were. It was really cold out there!)
Lola hit the target! Way to go, Lola!
Raina has strength and superb focus. When she wants something, she works hard to achieve it.
She was so surprised at how well she did. It was amazing to see her mentally re-write her conception of herself. "Hmm, maybe I am a girl who is good at archery? That's not what I expected, and it feels rather great!"
The Navigators leadership recently introduced archery to the younger set. Kids and adults learned about different kinds of bows, how bows and arrows are designed, safety procedures, and optimal body positioning for accurate shots. Last week, the kids practiced with Nerf bows and arrows; this weekend, we upgraded to compound and D bows.
My daughters, Raina especially, fell in love with archery. Lola was strong enough to draw the compound bow and shoot it with some measure of success. She had great fun with it, enjoyed her few rounds, and then played elsewhere. Raina refused to leave the archery field. She was in the first set of kids to shoot and she subbed in continuously for the first hour; the archery field opened up for another hour later and she shot arrows for the full time with the adults. Lola hit the target once. Raina progressed from hitting the target sometimes to hitting the target at all times to hitting specific spots on the target. She popped three balloons and was the only person to do so. She just beamed with pride at her growing skill and she worked hard to improve. The temperature was in the 20's, and her fingers were incredibly cold, but her passion to keep at it was admirable.
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