In the latest of the Olympic videos about mothers raising Olympians that The Times has brought to you in the run-up to the London Games, Alison Rushgrove, the mother of Ben, winner of a Paralympic silver medal at the 2008 Games despite running with a broken foot, talks about how she raised her son.
“My philosophy with Ben was, let him climb the climbing frame, let him climb the tree, get him on a bike, if he falls so what,” she says. “So I just allowed him find out what he could and couldn’t do for himself. He constantly surprised us by what he could do and I think that’s because we gave him the freedom, to flourish if you like.”
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