Theater of the Soul

It must truly suck to be a 9 year old trying to figure out the way the world works nowadays.

Monkeyboy has been struggling with summertime boredom this week. I’ve had some issues with work that have demanded my undivided attention during the daytime and, despite the fact that he is very lucky indeed to have a mama that works at home, he often doesn’t understand that I can’t attend to his every whim (of which there are many) at the drop of a hat.

This afternoon, while I was on the phone with a very fussy individual, Monkeyboy reached his boredom breaking point. One of the very strict rules I have in my home is NO BALL THROWING. Apparently, I should have expanded that rule to also include NO BASEBALL BAT SWINGING either, but I figured that this was an implied rule. Obviously, I was wrong.

One broken window later, Monkeyboy has realized that he will be in debt to me for a large portion of his childhood as he works to pay off the damage. I didn’t say a word…unfortunately both of my children know that silence from me is a BAD sign. A silent mama equals a mama that is TOO PISSED for words.

The afternoon had gone by with little to no speaking in the house. Finally, as I was making dinner, Monkeyboy tentatively peeked into the kitchen and asked if I was ever going to forgive him. I looked at him…the quivering lip…the big bottomless blue eyes…and melted into a big puddle of mommyness. I gave him a hug and sat him down on a stool so he could munch on some of the salad veggies, while I explained to him (for at least the 1000th time) that there are rules for a reason and usually those reasons are to prevent someone from getting hurt. I then told him that I still hadn’t heard an apology from him for breaking the window. He fell all over himself apologizing and then apologized for forgetting to apologize. He had been so concerned over what he had done wrong that he simply forgot.

I laughed and told him, “It’s a funny thing about forgiveness. Usually one needs to apologize and ASK for forgiveness before they actually RECEIVE it”.

“I never thought of it that way,” he said. “So, you mean I can do anything and, as long as I apologize, you’ll forgive me?”.

Hehehe. He almost got me, the little snot. “Within reason,” I said.