it's my girls' world

Our preschooler is not a fan of ice-skating... it started off pretty badly in January with her missing her first class as she had a major meltdown, didn't have the right helmet and wasn't signed up for the right class. Since then, it's all been downhill. She dreads every single class as she is scared of falling. As her fear is paralysing her, she is not as strong as some of the other skaters in the class.

Yesterday was a particular shit show, as we had an early day so she was already tired. I then had to take her out of her best friend's birthday party to get there in time for skating. Usually Darin takes her so when we got there, this inexpert mama had to put on the skates and the helmet. Her chin got caught in the helmet straps so she began to scream very loudly. Once that was sorted out,  she didn't want to go onto the ice. Then when we got her onto the ice, she sobbed for almost the entire class and wouldn't participate actively. Even though she was very slow on the ice, she was still pretty good and fell maybe once.  3/4 ways through though, I felt so sorry for her, we came home. This combination of exhaustion, fear and the switch up of parents was too much for this preschooler to handle.

I had a good long chat with her in the car about it and she said she'll try again next week. We've also signed her up for spring ice-skating as we want her to face this fear and she really does need to learn to ice-skate in Canada. Any tips from any parents who've been through this? How did you help your kids face their fears?