One of my groms with his new board! If you surf, and want to surf more, and have kids that compete for with your surfing, and each other for your time, give them all a gift - stoke!
Stoke is not an easy gift to give. It requires more than just popping to the shop!
It requires you to spend time with them, on the beach, to miss some waves because you are standing in the shallows pushing small kids into even smaller waves, whilst watching bigger ones roll in! It requires doing things for them, helping them get their wetsuit on, take it off, wax their board (repeatedly), repairs boards, packing the van, packing the snacks. It requires you to get to know their friends and their friends parents, as no matter how cool you think you are, they want to surf with their mates, and will be much more likely to go and to go it if their mates are there than if it's "only" you there! It requires patience, when they are not ready, have forgotten their suits, do not feel like it, feel scared, cry, blame and shout at you for things that are definitely not your fault. It requires humbleness, admitting mistakes when you it is your fault and you did actually chose to push them into a a close out, and when you realise, all too quickly, they are actually surfing not just as well as you but, better.
You know you have succeeded on the day you are sitting out back together and they see a good wave coming and look at you say, "Go on Dad, you can have this one!" The proudest, and most painful, moment, the student becomes the master!
To give stoke, is not easy but if you surf, you know stoke is one of the most treasured things you can receive. It delivers the memories you all treasure when you look back on your lives, memories of times together and it lasts a lifetime. It forms lives, and perhaps even saves lives.
And best of all, you get the surf time back 10 fold when they start demanding that you all go surfing!
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