Natalie was off on a school activity today to read Dr. Seuss books to elementary school students. She was excited about it and borrowed a Cat in the Hat hat from Jay to do it. When her bus rolled by the front of the house I walked into the office and found the had sitting on the desk. Roughly 10 minutes later my phone rang and I knew who it was. Natty asked me to drop off the hat. Unfortunately there was no way for me to get it to the school before they were scheduled to leave and take care of the boys and getting them to school on time. I told her I was sorry but I wouldn't be able to make it. I think she took it well enough. We talked about it tonight and she had a great time. I don't think the hat mattered all that much.
Jack, Andy and I were on our way to school this morning and all was going well until Jack, who was about 40 yards from the doors to the school and 50 yards in front of Andy and I realized he didn't have a hat on his head. He started to freak out a bit. It was a little chilly. The sun was shining but it hadn't warmed up yet. I thought the boys would be fine but Jack kind of let me have it. Of course I couldn't make out what he was saying until I found him standing just inside the door. He was talking to Mrs. Murray, tears in his eyes and quite upset about his hat. I got an earful about how I never remember to give him his hat. Amazing, this is the first day I have sent him without it. We talked about that but he was really in a state.
I think one of the things that is most challenging about Jack is knowing how he is going to react to something. My concern was not so much the hat, I knew things would warm up and he would be fine. My concern was for his state and the disruption he would potentially become to his class. We had a little conversation, he was pretty caught up on the hat and so I assured him that I would go get it and bring it back to him. Complete calm. When I came back with the hat Jack was actually with a TA reading Chicken Little. He was doing very well and was excited to see me walk in. I showed him the hat and it was like, eh, the hat. We made it through the moment and for that I am grateful.
Two children, two hats, two positive outcomes. Grateful for Natty handling it the way she did. With Jack, well, I didn't know exactly what to do and just listened. The answer was simple and I am grateful for that little bit of inspiration. So the challenge - dad can't always come to the rescue as Natalie got to experience. How do we fix that for Jack? Well, that inspiration came also. We will discuss expected and unexpected behavior in those situations but also we will make a plan to avoid not having the hat in the future. Expected behavior - Jack is in charge of his hat and he should put it in his backpack when he takes it off after school. Then it will always be there even when dad forgets to put it on his head.
No comments:
Post a Comment