The eleventh month of the year has arrived. I'm still not exactly clear where the first 10 months of 2015 have gone, but they are now in the past and we have about 50 days or so until a new year begins. Wow.
Hallowe'en has come and gone. It is not an event I like or dislike. I'm pretty neutral on it overall. I have some sort of inner moral dilemma with kids going door to door asking for treats from people they don't know when current times and school teachings warn of stranger danger. I do enjoy the decorations and the inventive and creative costumes that do come out. I'm mean who doesn't enjoy being something they're not?
Miss K got through the weekend, pretty well. She's had a bit of a cold that she says has been trying to catch her for a while, or she's trying to catch it. Scratchy throats and sore ears are remedied with some drugs so she was fit for Hallowe'en dances and things like that.
I have written before of Miss K's introverted and cautious style. Put her in a room of people she knows well and she is as gregarious and talkative as most kids. Stick her in a room with a lot of noisy and rambunctious kids and she is totally out of her element, not to mention quiet as a church mouse.
She glowed at the thought of attending the Halloween dance again this year. Being a SK, it was going to be so much cooler than last year she said. I figured it was because she knew the drill and it wouldn't be an unfamiliar situation.
Miss K did awesome from the time we hit the door to the school until we hit the gym, then it was a different story.
Before we got to where the "dance" was, she chatted with her teacher, said hi to school mates etc… but then the influx of stimuli happened and she shut down.
We even had tears, big crocodile ones.
The gym was loud, sort of dark and filled with about 100 kids that could only be described as on some sort of sugar rush and it kind of resembled a roomful of chipmunks on speed. Super cute, but kinda scary.
I was right there by her side. I draw the line in settings like that with clinging to my leg and there is no reason whatsoever not to speak to people you know, but aside from those things, I let her do things at her own speed.
She's not an unpopular kid from what I can tell. Judging by the number of kids that repeatedly came over to say hi and/or try to get her to join in the pit of chipmunk frenzy I gather she is not a social outcast at school. Popular but in her own quiet way I'm guessing.
It was at least 40 minutes before she would venture an arm's length away from me. It broke my heart and made me so proud all in the same night.
I see so much of her dad and I in her. Totally in our element if we know the surroundings and people, not so much when the situation is bigger and less familiar.
You grow frustrated when you see that she is accepted by her friends, but always wonder in the back of your mind how long will they keep coming back if she keeps being so reserved?
I suppose there are always other kids out there that will identify with that and they'll become the close friends. I mean really how many of us still have friends that we had in elementary school?
There was one little girl at the dance that was a bit more outgoing than Miss K, but still stuck close to things she knew. Those two kind of hung out and shared probably more in common than their Elsa princess dresses.
It pains you as a parent to see your kid clam up and be so anxious. You want for them to be at ease in any situation.
But on the flip side you can see why they're not. Miss K shares my introversion, maybe not in the same way but I have no love for large crowds or worse yet small talk with people I don't know well.
I was very proud of her though. She seems like the kind of kid I would have gravitated towards at school or in social situations.
She is not the over the top in your face kid that you really would just take a chill pill or go back to whatever wild and bold place they came from, but rather the fun loving one that just takes a bit to get to know.
Miss K wanted to go to that dance. I suspect she even knew at the tender age of five that it was going to be a tricky thing for her on a social level, but she fought through it just the same.
She needs to do things at her own speed and in her own way. Which I hope will bode well for her future.
I pray she is the kid that is able to think for herself and not do what the others are doing just because they are doing it.
I applaud her quiet but genuine personality and wish that for her sake she can stand tough and be the kind of person that you want to be around.
I know I sure do.
Til next time…enjoy your mini chocolate bar hangover
No comments:
Post a Comment