Sometimes we forget how big of an impact our little yes can be in someone’s life. And sometimes we forget how many more steps one person has to take to make a positive effort in just one area of their  life.

My son wanted to jump across the river. To him it was a river, it was actually just a concave of sand and rocks on the beach, just a couple feet wide and a few feet deep, with water running through it.

First, he looked to see if he could do it himself. I could tell he wasn’t quite sure about it. He’d never done something like this before but he clearly really wanted to and I was standing there… After assessing, he asked me to hold his hand so he could jump across. So I did.  We walked backwards so he could get a running start, then he ran forward and when he jumped, I let go of his hand. He made it across and landed on his backside. Then, he had to get back across. He’d never done it before. He looked at me and asked, “What do I do?”

He had decided, asked, taken my hand, ran, jumped and was asking again. So I gave him some advice from where I stood on the other side. When he made it back across and reached out his hand, I helped him back up.

He had so much fun that he wanted to do it again , but it was still new and he was learning and he was still a little scared. He had decided he wanted to jump, asked for help, took my hand, ran,  jumped, asked for advice… I was  standing right there. He asked me to hold his hand again and I did.

When he jumped, I let go. As he landed, he put his hands out and caught himself. And when he turned to come back across, he didn’t ask me how.  He climbed up on his own and yelled, “I’m four and I’m not afraid of anything!”

He kept going, having the time of his life, holding my hand, running and jumping, landing better and better, going faster and faster. At one point his eyes caught a spot further down, with an even wider jump. As he began to size it up, I reminded him he might want to try jumping across the smaller one on his own first before trying an even larger one.

He returned back to the first place he jumped, still asking  to hold my hand.

He continued to run, jump, and walk back across and then, before climbing back up one last time he stopped and said, I want to build something. Just like that, he was done jumping. And I’m right here, ready to hold his hand.