My oldest son is in 8th grade. He hates school. Just ask him, he’ll tell you.
He loves the idea of writing though. He gets ideas for fantasy type stories but isn’t able to write them because he gets stuck once he opens his laptop. I told him that when he gains more confidence, he’ll be able to sit down and create worlds with words. He believes me. I hope I’m right. So does he.
For his language arts class, his assignment is to write a five paragraph essay about his hero. He told me he didn’t have to think very long or hard on who he wanted to write about.
My son is writing about me!
I’m his hero.
It made me cry.
Because I realize that he totally gets how much I love him.
But I really hope he actually gets it done in time to turn it in. Remember, he hates school. He can’t get by on “it’s the thought that counts” type attitude. That doesn’t work, contrary to what he wants to believe.
Note to self: get on him this weekend regarding writing about ME…his hero. Sigh.
My youngest son loves to play on the computer. Mario games. Ninja games. Rock ’em, sock ’em, beat ’em up games. Oh yeah, and Yo Gabba Gabba games. *shrugs*
This morning, he grabbed my husbands laptop and headed for the stairs. He wanted to take it into the kitchen so he could eat breakfast and play Karoshi. Fun.
I heard something hard crash. And he cried out.
My heart went into my throat for a moment. But then I realized it sounded more like *whispers* a laptop. Notsomuch a small person. Because that small person was saying things small persons probably shouldn’t say except if they are allowed to watch inappropriate t.v…like my small child.
My 5 y/o picked up the fallen Mac and brought it to me. I was sitting on my bed with my laptop…on Twitter, of course.
He looked like he was scared and going to cry.
He held the laptop out to me and told me that he had dropped it. He stared at my face, looking for a negative reaction. He probably was greeted with more of a deer in the headlights type look.
I took the laptop from him and told him to go downstairs that I would be there in a minute.
I knew he was a little freaked from dropping it. I also knew my husband would be FUMING.
But before he left my room, I thanked my son. For immediately admitting that he had dropped the laptop. Thankfully, it was my husbands computer. *insert evil laugh*
As hard and as scary as it was for him to have admitted that he had been in the wrong, he did the right thing. I was so proud of him.
I also want him to know that as long as you do the right thing in the end, some mistakes are easier to deal with.
I also don’t want him to ever worry about coming to us with anything. I felt that if we had yelled at him about being careless, it would inevitably have a negative response. And that would start a domino effect and eventually, he’d never come to me with anything. He’d end up driving drunk with a car full of people and having something horrible happen because he didn’t call me. Because I yelled at him when he was five and dropped his dads laptop. So yeah, I refused to yell.
Then, I hid my laptop and yelled at him to never touch mine!! 😉
Remember when I said that it’s in the little things in a post a couple of days ago?
Well, yeah.
It is.
Sometimes, those little things are good enough. For now.
And p.s., the laptop is broken. And my oldest son hasn’t written his paper yet.
What have your kids done lately that made your heart go pitter patter?
This did NOT suck! This was perfect because it is REAL. This is life we lead as moms and I love it!
I LOVE that your son thinks of you as his hero. That is wonderful! And WELL DESERVED!
Let him write longhand. He may find it helps with getting things out. Then enter it into the computer later. Most writers, (including me) that I know write longhand. The screen gives me writers block. You wouldn’t think it but if you read my fiction you would have to read it off my spiral bound notebook. And it actually turns out about 20X better than any blog post I have ever written, and I don’t think my blog posts are hard to read 😉
And give the kid some time. After all how can he encapsulate such an interesting, fun, caring person up in just 5 paragraphs.
THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!
Heh heh. You are indeed a very, very wise Queen. I bow to your Grace.
This is the feeling you get when you know you raised them right! Unfortunately, hubbys aren’t really good at these feelings.
What a nice post. And you being his hero?? Priceless!
You are right..he made a mistake but he owned up to it, despite his fear.
That took courage and bravery.
But it also shows that he trusts you to do the right thing and now punish him too severely for his mistake.
You are on the right path….and are a good Mom.
OMG how do I get my son to choose me as his hero???? The closest I’ve gotten is conning my little sis into thinking I was hers. When she was 7 and I was 17, and her teacher asked the kids to invent a dinosaur, she invented a “Nicoleasaurus.” I continue to tease her about it.
I’m late to reading this, so I may have missed out on the opportunity to offer insight about your son’s (failed? Hopefully not!) writing effort. Might I suggest that he try with a legal pad and pencil or pen? Sometimes it’s easier to create in the “analog” world.
Now, to the important points.
First, You have attained hero status? That’s fantastic. I’m feeling the pride on your behalf. I just hope that you can maintain it when he gets into high school.
Second, as a former 5-year-old boy, I greatly appreciate your restraint, wisdom and judgment in handling the dropped computer situation as you did. As I see it, the important lesson is that computers can be replaced, but little boys and girls can’t. Besides, it was just a Mac.
I hold your parenting skills and dedication to your children in the highest regard. Please keep making me smile with your stories.
Maybe he’ll at least turn it in to you. =)
Oh how sweet!