My three-year-old climbed the baby gate

Yesterday, my oldest son (he’s three) hopped over the baby gate we have that’s meant to keep the kids out of my home office.

…

Yeahhhh…

Let’s rewind so I can give you the rundown.

I have a black-and-white checkered blanket that I keep in my office.

For whatever reason, the room I decided to work out of when we moved into this house gets a bit chilly at night.

Or maybe it’s just me—I don’t like being cold regardless of where I’m at.

So when I am cold, I wrap myself up like a burrito with arms and push on to the next task.

But occasionally, that blanket also follows me to other rooms in our home.

And when it does, my son immediately knows it’s out of place.

“Oh daddy, your blanket.”

“Oh yeah, let me take that back to my…”

“I got it daddy!”

Mind you, he loves it when we give him jobs to help us with around the house.

SIDE NOTE:

This isn’t the first time I’ve left my blanket in another room.

But anytime I do, it always ends up back in my office—and I’m not quite sure how.

Maybe I threw it on the chair while walking past, and I don’t remember.

Maybe it was my wife who grabbed it.

Maybe my son did it?

Anywho.

He really wanted to put it away for me.

So I let him take it.
I wait a few moments.
And I follow behind him…

(You know, just to make sure he tosses it over the gate.)

By the time I turn the corner, he’s already in my office—walking back toward the gate and climbing right over it as if it were not there.

I’m shocked.
Impressed… but shocked.

“Whoah.”

“So you’re the one putting the blanket back in there—do you climb over the gate every time you do this?”

“Yes.”

I smile.

Because again, I’m impressed.

But there’s a reason I put the gate there—it’s precautionary.

I have video lights hanging from the ceiling, cameras, recorders, microphones, etc. Expensive items that aren’t very kid-friendly.

“Honey! You have a second? You have to see this.”

“Show mommy how you put the blanket in my office.”

Her jaw drops.
She’s shocked.
Looks up at me.
Looks down at him.
Then back at me.

Impressed… but shocked.

Did I mention he’s THREE!?

Now Alexius and I are talking with our eyes because we have no idea what to say—so much for this baby gate…

But to our surprise, he didn’t touch anything he wasn’t supposed to.

He did the job he said he would do.

And that’s it.

Since becoming a father, I’ve noticed something about my boys… and kids in general.

By default, they have an “I can do it” attitude.

Nervous? Sure.

Sometimes you can see them thinking and processing.

It’s written all over their face.

But as long as they believe they can do it…

No hurdle ever seems too large to leap.

Yet somewhere between childhood and adulthood, something changes.

More fear.
More hesitation.
Less hurdling.

And I see this in clarity seekers all the time.

The desire to do something they said they would do.

The urge to answer the call God placed on their heart.

But they don’t act on it.

Why?…

The baby gate clutter.

The internal beliefs.

The hard conversations.

The unfulfilling career.

All feel too large to leap.

But here’s the question I keep coming back to:

Is the hurdle the problem…

Or is it what you believe the hurdle means?

My son saw that baby gate and immediately turned it into a rock-climbing wall.

He didn’t see an obstacle.

He saw something to figure out.

(With the biggest smile I might add.)

For many adults, the moment we see the hurdle…

We stop walking toward it.

Somewhere along the way, the gate stopped looking climbable.

But perspective changes a lot.

And regardless of whether it’s one hurdle or ten.

A mountain range of clutter or a transition season in your life.

It’s about remembering that you’re capable of climbing.

And if you want a leg up, I can show how to climb those baby gates without exhausting yourself (or avoiding them altogether) inside the Declutter Breakthrough Challenge.

Click the link above to hold your seat before the next live round begins.

In the meantime…

I’m curious.

What hurdle have you been standing in front of lately?

And what would it look like to approach it with that same “I can do it” attitude again?

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