Cameryn was in time out when I picked her up from school. I'll be the first person to tell you that my child is far from perfect, but she rarely misbehaves for other people, time out in school was a first for her. When I asked her why, she said because she wasn't listening to her teacher when her teacher asked her to be still and stop talking during circle time. I try not to scold Cameryn in public, especially when she is not putting herself in danger (like darting out in front of a car in a parking lot or something), so I simply asked her if she had made a good decision or a bad decision and that she should apologize to her teacher. She told me that had made a bad decision by not listening, and apologized to her teacher. I told her that I was disappointed in her and left it at that. We said our goodbyes to her teacher and friends and headed home.
She was very quiet on the way home and didn't want to talk a lot about her day. This wasn't that unusual for her. She's a lot like me and needs time to decompress after being somewhere all day. I don't like to answer a lot of questions about work as soon as I leave either. I was about a 1/4 mile from our house when I heard the sniffles. I looked in the rearview to discover that she was crying, silently. I was a little shocked and asked if she was okay, she nodded her head. I helped her out of the car and she ran into the house, straight into her room, shut the door, and started sobbing. I set down my purse and lunchbox, let the dog out, and knocked on her door before going in. There she was, face down on her bed, pillow wet with tears.
"Cameryn, sweetie, what's wrong?" She looked up at me, her big eyes the color of a stormy sky dropping tears like rain.
"I'm... crying... because... you're... upset... with... me... Dis'ppointed. And.. I'm sad."
I pulled her into my lap and held her. I just let her cry. Because sometimes a girl just needs to cry.
And in that moment, I was proud. I was proud of her for recognizing that she had made a bad decision and that her decisions can negatively affect others. I was proud of the mom that I had become in that moment. I felt as if, finally, I had done something right, not because she was upset and crying, because my child didn't want to disappoint me and she "got" it. She understood that disappointing her loved ones hurt much more than simply having someone angry at you.
My Cameryn, the sensitive soul.
She was very quiet on the way home and didn't want to talk a lot about her day. This wasn't that unusual for her. She's a lot like me and needs time to decompress after being somewhere all day. I don't like to answer a lot of questions about work as soon as I leave either. I was about a 1/4 mile from our house when I heard the sniffles. I looked in the rearview to discover that she was crying, silently. I was a little shocked and asked if she was okay, she nodded her head. I helped her out of the car and she ran into the house, straight into her room, shut the door, and started sobbing. I set down my purse and lunchbox, let the dog out, and knocked on her door before going in. There she was, face down on her bed, pillow wet with tears.
"Cameryn, sweetie, what's wrong?" She looked up at me, her big eyes the color of a stormy sky dropping tears like rain.
"I'm... crying... because... you're... upset... with... me... Dis'ppointed. And.. I'm sad."
I pulled her into my lap and held her. I just let her cry. Because sometimes a girl just needs to cry.
And in that moment, I was proud. I was proud of her for recognizing that she had made a bad decision and that her decisions can negatively affect others. I was proud of the mom that I had become in that moment. I felt as if, finally, I had done something right, not because she was upset and crying, because my child didn't want to disappoint me and she "got" it. She understood that disappointing her loved ones hurt much more than simply having someone angry at you.
My Cameryn, the sensitive soul.
