"If Plan A doesn't work, the alphabet has 25 more letters."
The day after I challenged Kyler to come up with a solution to his uncomfortable cup problem, he came to me with an idea...
Kyler: "Mom, I want to invent an athletic cup that is soft and lightweight that moves with my
body." He held out his hand in a cupped shape with his hand and covered his parts. "It should be this big and when the ball hits it, it absorbs the impact instead of pushing it all around the edges."
Me: "I love this idea! Let's do it."
I was so proud of Kyler for actually accepting the challenge and coming up with a solution. I was prepared to do anything to help him bring his idea to life. That weekend, we went to Hobby Lobby and purchased some supplies to make Kyler's comfortable cup. We worked together at our dining room table with lycra fabric, foam, and the sewing machine until we had created the idea Kyler had in his mind.
Kyler (and his dad) took turns testing the prototype we created. They used a seven-foot carpet roll tube to direct the aim of a baseball dropping from the second floor of our house down the tube onto a rectangular piece of floral foam.
We quickly discovered changes that needed to be made to improve upon the design, and we went back to the sewing machine to create more prototypes. We probably made 15 different comfortable cups--continuing the cycle of testing and adapting until we reached a design that seemed to work really well.
As I reflect on this expereince, I can't help but wonder how different our lives would be today if we had just given up after the first try. The idea of inventing something new seems MAMMOTH. However, when tackled taking tiny steps consistently, the mountain feels more like a mole hill.