Dekker missed school last week because he developed spots on his hands. He was a little too happy to stay home, but I was glad he wasn’t disappointed either. Since he mainly goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, today was his first day back after only missing one day, and he was ok, but a tad hesitant. Just a tad.
We did the morning as normal and he was ready to go. Got out the door fine, walked from the van fine, etc. I took him into the boot room, where we ran into Kim. She had Em, and another little boy from Dekker’s class was there, too. They all dumped off their backpacks, said their goodbyes, and headed to the playground. Dekker was the last of the three, since he likes to make a big fuss over trying to get his backpack on the shelf, and I bent down to give him a big hug and kiss.
While we were face to face, he whispered “I want to stay home today…” and he looked like he was about to tear up. This is very unlike him, because 1. Dekker physically cannot whisper. I have tried. He honestly can’t figure it out. And 2. He is usually pretty loud about how he feels, whether he’s happy or sad. He makes it known. This was a very quiet cry for help. I didn’t want to downplay his feelings, but he did need to stay, so I took his hand and prepared to walk him to the playground and encourage him from there, but no! The two little boys had waited just outside the doors for him! I could point it out to him, and he let go of my hand fairly easily and headed off with them. It does good things for my mama heart to see that.
I guess the biggest thing I want to communicate through this post is how important it is to be nice. All parents do it different, and its very easy to nitpick about other kids behavior and how they’re being raised and how maybe you’d do it differently. At least its easy for me to get lost in that, even though I make a VERY solid point not to be judgemental, EVER, because of how hurtful I find it when I’m wrongfully judged.
Regardless of how other people do their thing, you need to speak for your kids, not theirs. So raise your kids to be nice kids, like the lovely mamas of those two boys who waited for my hesitant boy this morning. It may seem small, but its not. Its huge. Thats what I’m trying to do, anyway.