I’m not going to make the habit of blogging about my children. Mainly because most people could care less about other’s spawn. The only exception is grandparents, because said children are spawn of their spawn. But my oldest child, Chase, has been the cause of much lost sleep lately, and I’m expecting gray hairs to appear at any moment.
This school year has been rough, and we’re actually in the process of getting him evaluated for ADD, we could use the accommodations. His story is this:
I’m finding out people with ADD are hypersensitive, to everything! I’ve always said Chase has been gifted with the spirit of discernment. Because Chase, at an earlier age than most kids, has known the majority of adults are a-holes, teachers and family included. And he has been unable to accept the social norm of showing respect to those people regardless. He’s grand with old men, gives them his undivided attention and upon coercion will even use phases like, “Yes, sir.” But unless you have one toe left on this side of this veil you’re not gonna get that behavior.
So we talk about appropriate social etiquette all the time. The conversations go like this: “Chase, just because so & so is an idiot doesn’t mean you call them on it. Keep those thoughts in your head!”
In which he shoots back, “But you say stuff about people all the time!”
Did I mention he is uber aware of hypocrisy, which is why he has issues with most everyone?
I'm then forced to admit, “Yeah! But we talk about them amongst ourselves, not to their face!”
Obviously I'm a failure at parenting by example.
At times he looks so much like his father, and like the Mr., requires a disproportionate amount of my time! But its impossible not to love them they way they need.
I know this is a VERY late comment, Emily, but I just saw this post (I'm nominating you for our Victoria's top mom blogger's contest if I'm allowed to nominate!). I'm sorry Chase had such a hard struggle to begin with, but he is SUCH an amazing kid and I've missed him ever since you guys moved away. It took me forever to figure it out, but I know it's no surprise to you--Chase is such a natural leader. More than any kid I've ever seen he hated being bossed around yet still loved structure--especially if he was in charge of upholding it. I still laugh at how anytime I wanted the kids to do something (clean up, pick up garbage at the park, etc) I would say, "Chase--you're in charge. I need you to make sure this gets done right--I'm counting on you." His whole demeanor would change--he seemed to get taller immediately and he took the task to heart. I could leave a room and hear him saying, "Dawson! Fynn! Stop fooling around! This is serious! We need to get this done!" And he always did get it done--way better than I ever could! I'm not surprised he's done so well in Scouts. He's such a smart, awesome little guy (well, not so little anymore I guess, but when I think of the three of them together, they'll always be pre-school age!). I always imagine he'll be a high-ranking military official one day or maybe the coach of a University football team or something where his gift can flourish =)
ReplyDelete