Jul 24 2007
Childhood Angst
On Monday, when John picked AJ up at school Miss Mindy told him that AJ was pretty reserved and wasn’t really participating at circle time. She said that since he wasn’t disruptive, she let him go, but that it wasn’t “normal” behavior for him. I didn’t think much about it or worry about it too much when John told me.
Tonight while we were sitting at the dinner table, AJ turned to me and said, “Garrett and Brock said they’re not my friends anymore.” Garrett has been AJ’s best friend since he started at the center last August. (Sometimes to my dismay! He’s not the greatest influence.) I told AJ that it’s just that he’s been out of touch because he hasn’t been going to school every day. As I was preparing to tell him that things would get back to normal next month when he was back to full time, he told me he doesn’t want to go to school anymore. I know that kids can be cruel. I know that it’s not a big deal. AJ doesn’t understand this though. I’ve been trying to convince him. I did tell him he needs to keep going so that he keeps in touch with them and then proceeded with my “it’ll be back to normal when you’re going to school all the time. Don’t worry, honey.”
Now I just need to convince myself…heartache for your kids is much worse than personal heartache.
[...] AJ went to school two days a week for the summer and we also had a good time when he was home. He mostly loved it—although I don’t think he liked that I made him rest most days for at least an hour. He took some naps, so I know the down time was needed. He rests at school, so it’s not like I was having him do something unfamiliar. He had some problems with the kids at school because he wasn’t there everyday. Even so, he’s survived and I expect things will go back to normal once he’s back to his normal schedule. He took swimming lessons this summer and went from hesitant to dunk his head to almost swimming. We’ll definitely continue them through the fall/winter so he doesn’t lose the comfort he’s found in the water. [...]