Juan Schneider

Just like Training Wheels

Developing new skills might be challenging during any period of our lives. But when we
are children, it is even worse so. Not because of our lack of experience in life but
because of our impatient attitude. We would expect to master new skills on the first try.
But an incident might change our whole perspective in a matter of seconds. At least that
was my case when I tried to ride my bike without the training wheels for the first time.

I had been using them for weeks. But one day, out of excitement, I asked my mom to
take them off because I felt I no longer needed them. She said that it was okay and as
she got rid of them, we took the bike outside my house. I jumped on it and when I was
just about to ride it, mum stopped me. She asked me to wait for her because she
wanted to go inside and fetch the camera to take a photo of that unforgettable moment.
But more importantly, she said that the first time riding a bike without the training wheels
may be tricky so she wanted to be there for me. Sadly, I was feeling so impatient that I
could not wait for her to be back. The moment she went inside, I pushed the pedals
down. As I did so I went off balance and I ended up falling off. But if that was not bad
enough, just picture that bike on top of me. Not being able to break free from it was
making me feel completely desperate as if I was fighting a losing battle. Fortunately, as I
was starting to get on my nerves, she popped up. Completely taken aback, she took the
bike off me and then helped me up. In the end, she did not scold me. Apparently, she
thought the traumatic incident with the bike was enough punishment for me to learn a
lesson. If so, she was right.

That day I learned a life lesson that goes like this: It is great for everybody, especially
children, to be fearless and to get to feel fully capable of doing a task at hand. However,
just like training wheels, patience should not be knocked off the table. It is part of the
learning process; a crucial step not to be taken for granted. Otherwise, it should not
surprise us that incidents like the one I had with the bike were to happen. 416 words