Our three-year old has mastered the somersault and, like every lesson 3-year olds learn, she practiced it until it was mastered.  My big kids don’t attack new skills with nearly the same gusto as Millie.  Just this weekend she’s bruised her foot somersaulting into a coffee table, knocked her head somersaulting into the recliner, had two baths somersaulting through some missed dog droppings on the front yard, and has grass stains and rug burn that will never come out.  EACH And EVERY time she erupted with applause for herself, and tried again and again and again until somersaulting was simple.

You know it wasn’t simple at first.  At first it was hard, so hard.  There were many attempts that started with putting the top of her head on the floor and then jumping an inch off the ground.  Then it was the sideways roll.  But soon, with a little practice and a lot of determination, she had it figured out.

Me, I tend to fall more in the “it’s too hard I quit” category.  Sure I’ll try; I’ll try as hard as I possibly can, until I don’t anymore.  I’ll try until the cost of trying far out weighs the benefit of succeeding, and then I’ll quit.  But 3-year olds, they don’t quit at anything.

They are masters of sticking to their principles, regardlessness of how misguided.