I sometimes have a difficult time balancing my parenting responsibilities for my children. Both children are artistic, intelligent, inquisitive, and rather sensitive. Oh yes, and they both have the attention spans of distracted wolverines. One child with all those qualities can try one’s patience. Two such “high impact” children, well, that there is a challenge.
I often feel as if I am just barely meeting their parenting needs, for they are often jostling for my attention at the same time they are intentionally taunting each other. A good mother would give such sensitive children her undivided attention, and that would make them get along, right? Okay, so that’s a rhetorical question, but there is a point to this.
Today, I learned that sometimes, if I would just step back and let them work things out, the results are far better that any solution I might offer. And once in a great while, the results are miraculous.
A little background here : My son attends summer school, out of our school district. His school friends do not live near us, for him to hang out with his friends requires synchronized day planners and lots of driving. As he is nowhere near driving age, we parents are the chauffeurs du jour. Usually, this means he only sees his friends on weekends, during the week, he can be found playing some sort of video game. As you can imagine, he is lonely (which translates to “I’m BORED” in twelve-year-old language).
This afternoon, after my kids finished lunch, my daughter asked my son to tag along with her to the library. Today, my daughter has a decoration committee meeting there and tonight, there is a book discussion group she will be attending with her best friend. The discussion group meets once a week, and today, my daughter wants to take her brother. My son, the boy who hates reading. Her best friend is fond of my son, in a little brother sort of way.
With the promise of food and the company of his sister and their mutual friend, my book-hating, people-shy son is right now at the library, reading a book, in preparation for the book club meeting tonight. Okay, so I had to promise him a ten spot, but that is very cheap, considering that until today, I could not get him to go to the library, much less socialize.
Paying my son to read and be sociable - $10.
My daughter opening her brother up to the world of reading and friendship outside his tiny school : priceless.
Here is a poem I wrote to commemorate the occasion. I will never make a living off my poetic efforts, but the sentiment is heartfelt, and that’s what counts.
You’ve always hated reading
You shy away from crowds,
You often play your games, alone
And barely make a sound
But is that you I’m seeing
Making towards the door,
Following your sister
To read and play and more?
Could it be that all it took
To get beyond your shell,
Was the promise of fun and laughs
From those who know you well?
I swear I’d not believe it
If I hadn’t heard it here,
You’re going to the library -
It’s a miracle, that’s clear!
©2006 Kathleen M Wooton, M.D.
Savvy Women's Magazine - Kathy's Kaleidoscope
I often feel as if I am just barely meeting their parenting needs, for they are often jostling for my attention at the same time they are intentionally taunting each other. A good mother would give such sensitive children her undivided attention, and that would make them get along, right? Okay, so that’s a rhetorical question, but there is a point to this.
Today, I learned that sometimes, if I would just step back and let them work things out, the results are far better that any solution I might offer. And once in a great while, the results are miraculous.
A little background here : My son attends summer school, out of our school district. His school friends do not live near us, for him to hang out with his friends requires synchronized day planners and lots of driving. As he is nowhere near driving age, we parents are the chauffeurs du jour. Usually, this means he only sees his friends on weekends, during the week, he can be found playing some sort of video game. As you can imagine, he is lonely (which translates to “I’m BORED” in twelve-year-old language).
This afternoon, after my kids finished lunch, my daughter asked my son to tag along with her to the library. Today, my daughter has a decoration committee meeting there and tonight, there is a book discussion group she will be attending with her best friend. The discussion group meets once a week, and today, my daughter wants to take her brother. My son, the boy who hates reading. Her best friend is fond of my son, in a little brother sort of way.
With the promise of food and the company of his sister and their mutual friend, my book-hating, people-shy son is right now at the library, reading a book, in preparation for the book club meeting tonight. Okay, so I had to promise him a ten spot, but that is very cheap, considering that until today, I could not get him to go to the library, much less socialize.
Paying my son to read and be sociable - $10.
My daughter opening her brother up to the world of reading and friendship outside his tiny school : priceless.
Here is a poem I wrote to commemorate the occasion. I will never make a living off my poetic efforts, but the sentiment is heartfelt, and that’s what counts.
You’ve always hated reading
You shy away from crowds,
You often play your games, alone
And barely make a sound
But is that you I’m seeing
Making towards the door,
Following your sister
To read and play and more?
Could it be that all it took
To get beyond your shell,
Was the promise of fun and laughs
From those who know you well?
I swear I’d not believe it
If I hadn’t heard it here,
You’re going to the library -
It’s a miracle, that’s clear!
©2006 Kathleen M Wooton, M.D.
Savvy Women's Magazine - Kathy's Kaleidoscope
No comments:
Post a Comment