At a stunning 104cm over the ground – a lively 4 year old can be found

Dear readers of http://www.noroadworries.com/ first of all a Happy new year and welcome back to this my first full year of blogging. I have a number of blog ideas that soon will be up for voting, but first a a few trip blogs as I am on the road currently.

Right now I am in the middle of the annual winter trip to one of the major inspiration sources for this blog. She just turned four and has been on her first vacation trip with her father which represents a big step in the development of our relationship.

The destination of choice was Acapulco’s Diamante coast, that did not exist 15 years ago, except for the Princess hotel where we almost broke our next when body surfing at our first visit, and now has developed into a city of its own. Being guest in a family of 12 people, out of which I knew one before turned out to be a fantastic experience. Sharing apartments as if it was my own family! Taking part in breakfasts, lunches and dinners with shared responsibility for cooking, washing and funding like in the old ski vacation days in French apartments. And last but not least a great understanding for the challenges that face a father traveling with his daughter for the first time, even with support from a sister and a grandmother is an experience of special nature.

Developing confidence in a relationship with a four year old that you meet twice a year is demanding. What are the right moves to make? At what pace should you introduce new steps? What is the right balance between firmness in guiding and acceptance for own wills and ideas? Well way more questions than I found answers for during this trip. But great progress was made. One night sleep together came after a looong walk when enough confidence was created as a foundation for a good night sleep. Enough confidence created to enable playing in the pool with the new toys. Enough confidence gained for ordering pina coladas, with the defining cherry, for relaxing moments by the pool.

All relations need confidence, some more than others, in order to develop. The journey of winning confidence is not possible to control, as pace and the steps on the journey varies. Going forward I need to live with the challenges of further developing confidence at a pace that I can not and will not be able to define. But with time, I am confident that it will come and come in big enough chunks that can take this relation to desired heights.