This morning he was grumpy and, frankly, rude.
He’s stayed up too late, reading, for several nights, even though we’ve turned off his light and told him to go to sleep (he reads by the nightlight if the book is “so good I can’t help it”), so this was entirely his fault.
And yet… something was different this morning. When we sat on the couch to talk, he burrowed into my lap and cried. Today the world was too much for him. Tears rolled down his cheeks until he drifted off to sleep; I held him for as long as I could.
I woke him gently. I had to go to work. We struck a deal: go outside; play the math game; call at least one grandma. Grandmas understand.
And I let him stay home. Because even though we are trying to make things feel normal, we are still in the middle of a global pandemic and we are all tired. Some days it’s ok to crawl back into bed, stay home from school and call your grandma.
Even if you have stayed up late with a good book.
Persistence and Pedagogy 
Call at least one grandma. How sweet is that? You’re a good mom. You see your kids.
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Yep. Some days are like that. Powerful that you let him work through it instead of ignore it.
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I love this! The staying up late reading part is me lately – I want to escape from the current reality and spend some time in a fantasy world of one sort or another. I want to watch movies from The Time Before and not think about masks or vaccines for a little while. I have so many students taking “mental health” days, which is not something parents have reported in the past. I suspect it was happening, but I think now we are all aware that it is so important to take these days now and then. I hope Grandma helped.
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This slice makes me want to call my grandma. It’s not possible, but it’s still nice to think about.
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I know things seem like they’re going back to “normal” in ways, but the toll is there for all of us. I’m working on a yet-unfinished piece of writing about the side effects I’m seeing in them, now that we’re in person. We’re back, but the trauma is there, the inability to check back in to “reality”, maybe even the need to go back and hide behind their Zoom calls. I love that the antidote was to “call at least one grandma”. Such a sweet slice of your relationship with him.
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This is beautiful. The world thanks you for being a compassionate mom because in the end, we all benefit from that, don’t we? Thank you for reminding us that it is okay to go against the grain to do the right thing. It is a decision and a day that both of you will likely remember for all the right reasons. Thank you for sharing this!
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Grandmas are the best. 😊
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Oh, Amanda. Your writing is such a gift to me right now. I love that your kid has grandmas who understand. Mine do, too – I didn’t. Also, that last line….made me think “especially if….”
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This is such a beautiful slice of understanding. I love that beginning paragraph-it’s his own fault for staying up too late reading (or maybe it’s the author’s fault for making the book so good?), and love that the deal included calling a grandmother.
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Self-care days for adults and children are as necessary as staying home when you have a temperature. I find it so sweet that calling grandma is on the care list.
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This gives me hope for the next generation. Understanding parents like you are teaching their children to build emotional resilience, rather than encouraging them to “push through” and pretend their feelings don’t exist. Such an important blog post!
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It’s one day at a time. You are brave to make the right decision.
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Some days are definitely like this. Living in a pandemic is hard. Sometimes we just need a cozy day off.
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I’m slowly catching up on a week of missed posts. He’s a lucky boy…to love books that much, to have an understanding mom, to have two grandmas he can call. Even if he’s living through a global pandemic, he must feel like he has a lot.
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