How do you make a child make good choices? How do you make them do the right thing? How do you make a kid follow directions? How do you make them listen and pay attention? How do you make your kid pick the right friends? How do you make him want to learn?
How do I make Aiden do all these things when he is away from me?
We are riding the struggle bus with school right now. Aiden is an amazing kid (you can read back on any of my blogs and see that I have a minor obsession with him). Aiden is one of the happiest most outgoing kids I know. He is socially perfect, in my opinion. He doesn’t just walk up to anybody and act like he can play, but he walks over and observes then decides whether or not he would fit into that situation. I love how he is, he reminds me of me when it comes to being social. He comes off pretty quiet; until he is comfortable, then the true Aiden begins to appear.
He is excited about life. He is very hands-on. He is very enthusiastic. He talks faster than his brain works so half his stories don’t make sense. He loves to play. He loves to rough house. He loves to fit in. He loves to be laughed at. He loves to make people laugh. He genuinely cares about how his sister is treated and is excited for her to do things well. He cares about his friends and loves being around them. Overall he is an awesome kid.
So, why doesn’t he act like that at school? Or does he? Does he do all of those things…oh my goodness, he does!
He is excited, so excited that he doesn’t raise his hand he just yells out. He is hands on, so hands on that he can’t sit on the carpet with the rest of the class because he can’t keep his hands to himself. He is enthusiastic, so enthusiastic that he must touch the person in front of him (with a gentle head-butt) to show them how excited he is. He loves to fit in, so he is running around with the kids that get the most attention, you know the kids who get in trouble all day and never get positive attention….yep, he is playing with those kids. He loves to be laughed at, so much that he will make people laugh even when it is “learning time” and other kids are asking him to be quiet. He genuinely cares about his friends, so much so that even though kids are doing the wrong thing he doesn’t want to hurt their feelings by not playing with them or telling on them so he just tags along with them.
Being a parent is hard. Being a parent with a kid in school in so much harder than I ever imagined. You want other people to love your kids the way you love them. You want other people to want to be around your kids and want their kids to be around your kids. Being a teacher I have had many “aidens” in school. I have learned how to handle them and how to deal with them. I hope that nobody sees Aiden and thinks, “I don’t want my kids around that boy.” That is a true fear that I will not let happen to my son.
Aiden’s teacher said to me that Aiden is never mean or malicious….this couldn’t be more true. Nothing that kid does (other than the things he does to his sister—whom he secretly loves) is mean-hearted. He is one of the most kind-hearted souls I know. All I want is for him to see that in himself. I want for him to learn how to be a student before we all lose our minds.
No comments:
Post a Comment