I'm wondering if some of you have experience with this one. DS6 has always been quite fearful of trying new things, and we just don't know how to help him get past this.
One particular problem we have is that DH and I have always been an active couple (skiing, off-road mountain biking, canoe camping, triathlons, that sort of thing), and we can't seem to get DS6 started. DS4 would be ready to tackle lots of these activities, but DS6 pretty much panics whenever we try to introduce them.
Part of it is his perfectionism (he can't stand doing something if he's not good at it), but part of it is fear. A big one is that he's afraid of bears and of getting lost in the woods. For that matter, he gets concerned as soon as he realizes we might be momentarily lost in a new city.
Our approach with learning to swim was to get him private lessons (instead of in a group) and a lot of patience. But for skiing, he refuses to get out and freaks out when we mention it. We're really worried that we're never going to be an active family if we can't help him get past these mental blocks.
And the thing is, he is usually hooked once he gets into it. He now LOVES being in the pool. We've even got him hooked on his kid-sized kayak! Ok, so I guess we can be somewhat active already.
Any ideas, anyone?
