Who is this kid?
April 28th, 2008 by Treena ShapiroThe prodigal son has returned.
He burst into the baggage claim, gave me a courtesy hug, then told me to wait off to the side while he retrieved his suitcase.
On the way home he was silent, exhausted, but fighting sleep.
When he has to fight sleep, he usually fights me, too, but he didn’t bother. He answered a couple questions, but mostly he said, “I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay?”
Tomorrow came and he woke up and got dressed with minimum fuss, then actually talked about his trip as I was driving him to school. Apparently it inspired him so much that he now wants to specialize in history.
After school, he held in his rage when I sadly informed him that the cell phone that replaced the one that got washed twice ended up in the washing machine along with the other contents of his suitcase.
He clenched his fists. He said, “But it wasn’t in my pocket!”
Then he accepted my promise to replace the phone as soon as possible. He doesn’t need to know that I bid on a one-cent phone from eBay, right?
The shocker was when he pulled out a math test with a score that made both of us beam. Since I knew how hard he worked on it, I figured a celebratory trip to the bookstore was in order.
He not only picked a book for himself, but one to read to his little sister, which he patiently started to read and explain to her even as she interrupted with little revelations that had nothing to do with the Frisby family or the rats of Nimh.
He read his own book, of course, but put it down at homework time and took a shower without argument.
I don’t intend to send him away again any time soon, but I have to admit that it’s nice to see that he might have learned as much about himself as he did about the historical sites between Boston and Washington, D.C.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Glad you got your son back, new and improved it seems.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:05 am
glad to hear he’s back safely! and even better that he came back with a lot of knowledge, interest & appreciation for what he learned
as for the phone….at the rate the washing machine is eating those things up, it’s probably better that you get it as cheap as you can!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am
It seems that he grew up a bit while he was gone. That sucks about his cell phone being washed. Maybe it’s just me but I think you should start checking your kids pockets before you wash them. BTW, craigslits has phones too that you can get quicker. Just a thought.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Sounds like your son had a great trip… learned alot about history and himself, at the same time. “Yeah!” for him! And “Yeah!” for you, for giving him the opportunity.
As for the cell phone… ahh… who put everything in the wash? If it was him, he still wasn’t being responsible for his own things, even if it wasn’t in his pockets. If it was you, maybe you needed to let him be responsible for emptying out his suitcase - he would have known it was there. But, if this his something he’s done in the past… he should have to pay for some of the cost of a new phone, maybe by doing extra chores around the house. Otherwise, what is the incentive to be more careful if he always gets a new phone without repercussions for his actions?
April 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
You got a great kid.