It’s particularly helpful for children who are struggling to try new things following the endless COVID lockdowns. It is also so, so funny to children and adults. Scaredy Squirrel is so neurotic! Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. “He’d rather stay in his safe and familiar tree than risk venturing out into the unknown.” I hear you, Squirrel! No need for explanations, here. After all, as Scaredy Squirrel reminds us, the outside world contains “tarantulas, poison ivy, green Martians, killer bees, germs and sharks.” Ain’t that the truth. Yes, ok, maybe it does get a bit boring always staying in the nut tree because every day is the same, but this way “everything is predictable. All is under control.” Right on! One day, Sacredy Squirrel sees a (potentially killer) bee. Although he rushes for his safety kit, it falls out of the tree, and he leaps out after it. “But something incredible happens….he starts to glide. Scaredy Squirrel is no ordinary squirrel. He’s a flying squirrel!” All this excitement inspires Scaredy Squirrel. He mostly goes back to his old routine, after all, he’s still the same squirrel. But in addition to hanging out in his same old nut treat looking at the view and eating nuts, he now adds “jumping into the unknown” to his repertoire. It reminds me of teaching my kids to ride a bike. When my eldest son finally learned to ride, I jumped up and down and got so excited. “Don’t get so excited!” he told me. “I’m still going to have to ride my bike again.” And isn’t that it, in so many ways? Just because you did something so hard, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to keep doing it every fucking day. And my sons and I agree, somehow that’s funny! There’s just something so lifelike about life.