{at any one moment}
Last Thursday we had a doozy of a morning. Know that I am being truthful when I say that we were a hot mess. The cherry on top of a difficult morning routine was my unplanned -for trip into elementary school with Drew.
We were a sight: Drew with his coat over his head and refusing to step into his classroom, crazy morning-haired Katie wearing a nightgown and rain boots, and me not at all ready to be out in public either. My poor guy was so upset about going to school that day that he just kept saying. "Please don't make me stay here. I quit this place. I will go home. I will run away home if you leave me here." It was quite upsetting to hear my six year old say these things about kindergarten. After a couple of minutes, the school counselor had to get involved because it was clear that Drew was not going to enter the classroom.
At one point I had to carry my not-far-from-being-as-tall-as-me kindergartener down the steps from the kindergarten hallway to the counselor's office because he refused to go on his own. It was graceful. We tried to figure out what was bothering him, but he clammed up. For the entire time I was with him, he refused to take the coat off of his head. He alternated between crying, clinging to me, and being silent. Finally the counselor said, "Drew, your mom has to leave and your sister had to leave. You can choose to stay in my office with me or you can choose to go into your classroom, but you do have to stay here at school today. Say goodbye to Mom." It sucked to walk out of that room while some person, essentially a stranger to me, blocked the door so my child couldn't bolt. I was in tears. I arrived to work almost an hour late and couldn't concentrate or care about what was going on there because I was watching my phone. I finally got notification at 10:30 that he decided to go into his classroom. (Never did get the story out of him about what had him so upset...)
It was a pretty humbling morning for me as a mom, and one that put me into a bit of a funk for a couple of days.
Fast forward a couple of days--- I had the kids with me at Bread Company for dinner. Ben was out of town for work and we were squeezing in a meal between practices. The kids were being sweet and everyone was being helpful and cooperative. We played Heads Up on my phone as we waited for our meals. There was a lot of giggling. Katie turned to me and spontaneously told me she loved me (a sweet little kick she is on right now; I must hear it a dozen times a day.) Drew said, "Thanks for bringing us here, Mom. This is a nice treat."
As we were finishing our meal, an older couple stopped by our table as they were leaving the restaurant. The man said, "Mom, you are doing everything right. What a beautiful bunch of kids you have there." The woman gave us a big smile and said, "It's so nice to see children who know how to behave in public. Not all do, you know!"
I thanked them and felt pride, but I also realized that no family or parent can be accurately judged by any one moment in time. I am the same mother when I have cooperative kids having a sweet meal together as I am when I am carrying a crying six year old down the steps of his elementary school as he tries to grab the handrails to keep me from moving.
We were a sight: Drew with his coat over his head and refusing to step into his classroom, crazy morning-haired Katie wearing a nightgown and rain boots, and me not at all ready to be out in public either. My poor guy was so upset about going to school that day that he just kept saying. "Please don't make me stay here. I quit this place. I will go home. I will run away home if you leave me here." It was quite upsetting to hear my six year old say these things about kindergarten. After a couple of minutes, the school counselor had to get involved because it was clear that Drew was not going to enter the classroom.
At one point I had to carry my not-far-from-being-as-tall-as-me kindergartener down the steps from the kindergarten hallway to the counselor's office because he refused to go on his own. It was graceful. We tried to figure out what was bothering him, but he clammed up. For the entire time I was with him, he refused to take the coat off of his head. He alternated between crying, clinging to me, and being silent. Finally the counselor said, "Drew, your mom has to leave and your sister had to leave. You can choose to stay in my office with me or you can choose to go into your classroom, but you do have to stay here at school today. Say goodbye to Mom." It sucked to walk out of that room while some person, essentially a stranger to me, blocked the door so my child couldn't bolt. I was in tears. I arrived to work almost an hour late and couldn't concentrate or care about what was going on there because I was watching my phone. I finally got notification at 10:30 that he decided to go into his classroom. (Never did get the story out of him about what had him so upset...)
It was a pretty humbling morning for me as a mom, and one that put me into a bit of a funk for a couple of days.
Fast forward a couple of days--- I had the kids with me at Bread Company for dinner. Ben was out of town for work and we were squeezing in a meal between practices. The kids were being sweet and everyone was being helpful and cooperative. We played Heads Up on my phone as we waited for our meals. There was a lot of giggling. Katie turned to me and spontaneously told me she loved me (a sweet little kick she is on right now; I must hear it a dozen times a day.) Drew said, "Thanks for bringing us here, Mom. This is a nice treat."
As we were finishing our meal, an older couple stopped by our table as they were leaving the restaurant. The man said, "Mom, you are doing everything right. What a beautiful bunch of kids you have there." The woman gave us a big smile and said, "It's so nice to see children who know how to behave in public. Not all do, you know!"
I thanked them and felt pride, but I also realized that no family or parent can be accurately judged by any one moment in time. I am the same mother when I have cooperative kids having a sweet meal together as I am when I am carrying a crying six year old down the steps of his elementary school as he tries to grab the handrails to keep me from moving.
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