How to Calm a Kid...

who just hit her head smack on the ice. Well, the first rule of thumb is to not show the utter horror on your face after hearing the kid hit the deck. I was very good. Miss Muffet was working on her new footwork sequence and was coming out of a set of brackets at full speed when she got too far back on her heel and SMACK! Down she went. The head was really all I was worried about, but her elbow turned purple immediately and her thumb hurt too.

But - there I was, the bastion of motherly/skater strength - dusted her off, asked her how old she was, looked for blood and sent her on her way to work on spins instead. Geez, we still had a good 20 minutes left of a perfectly empty freestyle and I had work to do!

Today is special for Miss Muffet because not only does she turn another year older today, but because her birthday is always the anniversary of when she first stepped on the ice. She and I took a Mommy and Me class four years ago because she wanted a pretty skating dressy and look at us now. Darn pretty skating dressies!

So to recap - first don't look scared, concerned or worried. Second - skate yourself so you know how it feels to smack the ice that hard, especially when you least expect it. Third - brush them off and send them to work on that camel-sit-back sit combo, minimum of 5 revolutions per spin please.