"I wanted him to know that it was OK to be clumsy, sometimes with our bodies and sometimes with our words. And that everyone -- from Shohei Ohtani to the Skibidi Toilet Guy -- has felt fire on their cheeks and dread in their bellies after committing a gaffe of some sort. That's part of the human experience. It builds character and also allows fantastic room for levity and relatability. Not that I expected an 11-year-old boy to grasp that sort of gravity."
"I ended up telling him a story about how -- as a painfully insecure 15-year-old -- I slipped on a patch of black ice in my high school's parking lot and completely biffed it right in front of my crush. How I laid on my back paralyzed with awkwardness until said crush came over, asked me if I was "OK," and then handed me the granola bar that had apparently flown out of my pocket, saying "I think you dropped this.""
A mother shares an embarrassing teenage memory with her middle-school son to normalize clumsiness and to teach that embarrassment is common. She frames the lesson by saying everyone, from famous athletes to viral characters, feels sudden shame and physical discomfort after a gaffe. She recounts slipping on black ice at 15 in front of her crush, lying on her back until the crush asked if she was "OK" and returned a granola bar. The son laughs and asks what happened next. A classmate witnessed the fall and came to help, demonstrating immediate human kindness amid awkwardness. The exchange underscores levity, relatability, and character development through small public mishaps.
Read at ESPN.com
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