The Girl Who Hated to Swing

For the first 18 months of my daughter’s life, she hated to swing. My wife and I bought one of those indoor, wind-up-and-go swings with visions of our baby girl joyously swinging for hours while we went about our daily business.

We tried it once. Clara screamed and cried. She just about lost her mind. So I threw it into the basement, never to be seen again.

At gym class, Clara was the only kid who cried when we put her in the swings.  For everyone else, swing time was the best time.

For Clara, it was torture.

I never, ever thought she’d like to swing.

At least until she was school age.

And now look at her, less than a year later.

The Girl Who Loves to Swing.

  

The next time I feel stuck, unable to move forward, learn something new or embrace change, I’ll look back on these photographs and remember Clara’s transformation from The Girl Who Hated to Swing to The Girl Who Loved to Swing.

I’ll look at these images and remind myself that time, encouragement and persistence can change almost anything.