5 year old DD and I had a lovely day attending an event at our local park. We both agreed it was time to leave and she was happily skipping towards the gate.
Before exiting, she decided to walk up a little grassy mound that had a stone wall on one side. This wall was not particularly high, I had no qualms about letting her jump down and she has definitely jumped off higher things before. But for some reason when she was stood ready to jump she froze and got all in her head and was terrified to jump.
I tried everything, saying she could do it, saying I'll hold her hand, i'll 'catch' her when she lands, i got up there with her and said we could jump together, i said to leave it and try another time and just go back down the mound etc all of this was met with an angrily bellowed "No!". She was absolutely beside herself crying and so angry with herself and with me for some reason.
This went on for 40 minutes! I initially thought I'd just let her take as long as she needs but after that long there still seemed to be no end in sight. So I pre-warned her and then grabbed her to lift her down. At which point she bit down HARD on my shoulder and I ended up carrying her kicking and screaming to the car. Bearing in mind I'm 8 months pregnant so this was all extremely draining.
Can anyone who understands children explain what on earth that was all about?!