I wonder where this little girl went . . .

[MaryGilbeaux]

I was watching little girls turn cartwheels. At that age, I was turning cartwheels without using my hands - you just had to believe you could do it. I believed it and so I could do it.
I don't know when this stopped.
When did I become timid? I wish I was intrepid

Onions

{grin} Laughed aloud at this comment - dog is looking at me as though I've finally cracked.

I can still do washing machines on bars. Dc (8 and 6) are too scared.

DS1 spent about a year cartwheeling everywhere.
It could be annoying but I kinda missed it when he stopped.
It wasn't as annoying as the months he spent walking backwards

Onions

Laughed aloud at this comment - dog is looking at me as though I've finally cracked.

How do you do cartwheels without your hands?"

It's tricky. I could only manage with one hand. Aerial cartwheels they're called.

I still jump on puddles and walk on walls 00though now I'm frightened that I'll fall and hurt myself--

There was a programme on BBC2 the other night with the lovely twin doctors about fear and disgust and how we aren't born with them, but learn from experience and from others, and it's all to do with survival.

But yes, you grow older and realise what bad things might happen, and take fewer risks, although you can reprogramme yourself with positive experiences. Or summat like that - I may have been staring at the lovely twin doctors a bit too hard and not actually listening!

It's prob still on iPlayer.

Front aerials (aerial walkovers) are trickier to do though.

I can hardly get my tights on, never mind cartwheeling.

Strap on your big girl pants and go for it. Says the woman who couldn’t even complete the first level BAGA certificate. Handstands were my downfall.

i went through a faze of leapfrogging over postboxes, they were about a foot taller than me but somehow i managed to do it without killing myself or causing any injuries, front flips and back flips no problem, over the bars on the swings (literally over the bars) get the swing to level with the bars and launch off the swing, can you tell i was a tomboy, then i got to about 14/15 and discovered that boys were more interesting than launching my self round the red reck

Off the back of this thread, I just did a handstand up the wall to see if I still could, and I think I've fixed my prolapse grin

Thats great but I hope you don't now feel as if you have something stuck in your throat.

Same but different I used to love horse riding, would fall off but just get back on. Decided a couple of years ago I wanted to have another go so DH paid for some lessons. I have never been so scared (and in pain) in my life. All I could think was "if I fall off and break a bone, how will I drive/work/dress myself/wipe my bum etc".

I couldn't perform a fucking forward roll without damaging myself 😅

"this is also why female artistic gymnasts are often pretty small, too - and apparently they also often have quite short limbs for their height."

Yes! Exactly. Gymnasts are small with short legs!

Re. post boxes - I had an ex who would one minute be walking next to me, the next perched on top of a post box. They are really tall! I could never figure out how he did it.

I'm sure I remember reading something that said when girl's go through puberty (and their hips grow) our Centre of gravity shifts so all those things we learnt to do as small children need to be relearned.

I did a cartwheel a few months ago, my weak middle aged wrists felt like they might snap and ached for days, that's why I don't do them anymore, the fear is well founded.

I am 60+.

I was delighted to see that I could still do a handstand in the water this summer.

This is very indentifying - I might ask for this whole thread to be pulled.........

I can still lick both big toes and I'm 2.5 stone overweight. I would love to be able to.... run, even a bit; massive knockers get in the way.

I think some children are born timid and fearful. Dd, even when she was tiny, used to freeze with fear and go rigid at anything that was even slightly outside her comfort zone. She is less timid as an adult, but that has taken years of teaching her to take risks, not teaching her to be timid.

I did gymnastics when younger. Flips, splits, etc etc. No fear. I was light and flexible.
Then puberty hit. Cue awkwardness and co-ordination going out the window.

At almost 40 I think the risk of injury puts me off the most. Took months to recover from a sprained ankle!

Off the back of this thread, I just did a handstand up the wall to see if I still could, and I think I've fixed my prolapse

You are older and will hurt yourself , maybe badly

Do new courageous things instead

I could never to a cartwheel properly as a child anyway! Gymnastics wasn't my thing.

I do remember however, riding my bike down a very steep hill opposite my house with both arms outstretched, on a regular basis. Now if I go down a slight slope on my bike, both hands are hovering over the brakes as a minimum if not actually pulling the brakes to slow the bike down.

The most risky thing I seem to do is go outside without a coat.