Confusion
Trapped in the confines of the house due to the below freezing weather, I began working my way through the to-do list of chores.
The kids had been entertained the early part of the morning with our sleep-over guest, but discontent was settling in as the day wore on. Miss L went to her room and was playing to the music of Taylor Swift, but Mr. B was having a harder time "finding his groove".
"Can I go play outside in the dirt pile?" he asked.
I explained to him that his little fingers and toes would freeze. It was simply too cold to go outside.
Not being one to give up he asked me again. Just once. Or maybe it was closer twenty times. However, he eventually moved on to other things.
As I was sorting out my laundry to be put away, I noticed Mr. B had brought a book into my bedroom and was intently studying it, while on the floor.
I stopped what I was doing and got down on the floor with him and asked what he was doing. I noticed that it was a dry-erase alphabet book and he was trying to write letters. I took his small hand in mine and guided it over the letters on the page. We made a capital A and a lowercase a. A capital B and a lowercase b. I then encouraged him to try and do it himself.
Although he is an extremely bright child (I am not biased at all), writing is not something that he often attempts to do. I encourage it, but he resists. He isn't used to things not coming easily.
He surprised me and actually took the dry erase marker and attempted to write a lowercase a. I was watching him as I continued to sort and fold. He was very intent.
Suddenly he sat up straight and very angrily declared, "I can't do this! It looks like a 'd'." (referring to his lowercase a...it was backwards)
I walked over a crouched down on the floor with him. I looked him squarely in the face and said, "Mr. B, you are a very special little boy. You are smart and very loved. You can do ANYTHING you want to do."
He looked at me a quietly said, "I wanted to go play outside and YOU said I couldn't."
Kids! I give up.
The kids had been entertained the early part of the morning with our sleep-over guest, but discontent was settling in as the day wore on. Miss L went to her room and was playing to the music of Taylor Swift, but Mr. B was having a harder time "finding his groove".
"Can I go play outside in the dirt pile?" he asked.
I explained to him that his little fingers and toes would freeze. It was simply too cold to go outside.
Not being one to give up he asked me again. Just once. Or maybe it was closer twenty times. However, he eventually moved on to other things.
As I was sorting out my laundry to be put away, I noticed Mr. B had brought a book into my bedroom and was intently studying it, while on the floor.
I stopped what I was doing and got down on the floor with him and asked what he was doing. I noticed that it was a dry-erase alphabet book and he was trying to write letters. I took his small hand in mine and guided it over the letters on the page. We made a capital A and a lowercase a. A capital B and a lowercase b. I then encouraged him to try and do it himself.
Although he is an extremely bright child (I am not biased at all), writing is not something that he often attempts to do. I encourage it, but he resists. He isn't used to things not coming easily.
He surprised me and actually took the dry erase marker and attempted to write a lowercase a. I was watching him as I continued to sort and fold. He was very intent.
Suddenly he sat up straight and very angrily declared, "I can't do this! It looks like a 'd'." (referring to his lowercase a...it was backwards)
I walked over a crouched down on the floor with him. I looked him squarely in the face and said, "Mr. B, you are a very special little boy. You are smart and very loved. You can do ANYTHING you want to do."
He looked at me a quietly said, "I wanted to go play outside and YOU said I couldn't."
Kids! I give up.
Comments
Reminds me a little of Oh The Joys post "Caveat".