Not so long ago... SW was the one who didn't have many friends and during recess or after school, he'd be wanting to play with NN and her friends. And of course, as most older siblings, they don't want their pesky little brother/sister bothering them. So I witnessed many months and years of a sad little boy playing by himself... or Bah-B would end up playing with him.
Boy have the tables turned...
Today we stayed after school to play. SW had his group of friends stay with him and they're off doing their imagination games. Soon after, I see a pouting, sad NN come walk towards me saying she wants to go home. She's so angry, she's on the verge of tears. After some prodding... it turns out that SW and his friends were "rude" to her and didn't let her know what they were playing. So she went back in the car and said she wanted to go home.
I always strive to be fair and equal to both...even if they're 2 years apart. So when I didn't force NN to play with SW, I wasn't going to force SW to play with NN either. NN is old enough to decide if she wants to play...or sit in the car. I ain't gonna push. So after 5 minutes... she went back out to play.. but this time, it was she who played by herself.
**SIDE NOTE**
You never want your kid to be THAT kid... when all the other kids are playing one thing or another, and your kid doesn't fit in. It was heart breaking seeing NN playing the monkey bars by herself, cuz all the other girls were doing gymnastics and flips on the other bars. NN didn't fit in.
Ah wellz... such is life.
**SIDE NOTE END**
After about 10 minutes... NN got bored of playing by herself and came back in the car. I sat there with her for another 10 minutes and finally got SW to leave. Before I even approached him, he knew he was in trouble. I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his friends, so I made a little "Come here" motion and said, "We gotta go." Little punk never does this... but he walked with two hands in his pockets like he was James Dean!! Where'd he learn that?!?!?
I simply asked... "你有冇激嬲家姐？"
He said, "Yes... but...."
I didn't even let him explain, I simply said, "你氹返佢啦。" That was it... no yelling, no screaming, no judging. Just telling him what he needs to do.
And the ensuing conversation was priceless...side splitting... tear jerking. My lips were bleeding cuz I was biting them so hard to try not to laff.
NN: "I thought you cared about me."
SW: "I do."
NN: "I thought you loved me. Now I know the real you."
SW: "I do love you."
What was I listening to?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!
Oh.... and 5 minutes later, we got to the library, and everything was back to normal again. No harm no foul. Sometimes, the best parenting, is non-parenting. Let them figure it out themselves. BOOM!
Mood: wonderment
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