I did it. I finally dropped into the bowl at the skatepark.

I had been working on it for two years.

I sent the video to everyone. I reveled in my own pride. I was basically ready to add “professional skateboarder” to my résumé.

Two days later, I went back.

Full of confidence.

Which quickly waned as I stood at the edge, looking down.

And then…

…I face-planted.

I hit my cheek and somehow managed to avoid my head, eyes, nose, teeth, and jaw.

Lucky? 100%.

I looked like a squirrel who had found the motherload of acorns. (And yet I still couldn’t rival my nephew and his Cheeks for Weeks.)

I scared my son almost as much as I had when I fainted at CHOP and became an adult patient in a children’s hospital. But that’s a story for another day.

A few days after the fall, I went back.

My instinct was to push through. I wanted to prove I could do it again.

But this time, I had Help.

And the Help held me back.

Instead of trying the drop again, we went back to the basics.

And, as it turns out, the basics are what make the harder stuff easier.

Which got me thinking about parenting.

Because how often do we do the exact opposite?

Our kid is struggling, so we add another strategy. Another conversation. Another rule. Another consequence. Another book. Another podcast. Another Google search.

We make it more complicated.

We try harder.

We push through.

We stand at the edge of the bowl, convinced that if we just find the right technique, we can make the whole thing work.

But sometimes the answer isn’t another strategy.

Sometimes it’s going back to the basics.

Connection.

Sleep.

Food.

Time together.

Listening.

Being present.

Taking one thing at a time.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in how things should be that we miss what is actually right in front of us.

Maybe that’s the lesson I needed to learn at the skatepark:

When things feel complicated, go back to the basics.

Because sometimes we don’t need to try harder.

We just need to make it simpler.