Life has been a little nuts around our house lately. Ryleigh has been testing my every nerve and apparently Mrs. Abbott's, too. Since August, Ry has come home with FOUR notes from the teacher for talking and not following instructions in class she - even had a boy in tears because she was threatening to pinch him. This is behavior she's occasionally displayed at home, but never out in public. One day when I dropped Ellie off at preschool, I mentioned to her (and Ryleigh's former) teacher that Ry has had some issues in class and she was in SHOCK. My guess is that Ryleigh is finally starting to come out of her shell socially and is becoming a bit more (maybe too much) comfortable with others. Punishment for this behavior is no friends after school, which seems to be the one thing that is important enough to her to understand.
Just a few weeks ago I was at the bus stop after Ry had been dropped off, visiting with the other moms. Ry quickly grew inpatient with me and asked if she could walk home (3 streets over). I told her, "No you cannot, but you may go a few houses down to play with the other kids." She then headed that way and I continued on with the conversation with my girlfriends, though I couldn't truly get back into it because something just didn't feel quite right. I kept looking down the street to check on Ry, but couldn't spot her among all her friends. Not being able to see her, I began thinking, "Could she have walked home?", but immediately dismissed the thought because that's not something she would typically be brave enough to do by herself. As her friend Gabe came riding his bike over to us, I asked him if Ry was down playing with the kids, and he said that she was not. Upon hearing this, I immediately jumped in the car with my heart pounding out of my chest, scared to death for her safety and angry (she knows better) all at the same time. As I pulled around the corner onto our street, there she was, and she started running to try and race me home. Once I got her into the car, I spent the remaining 500 foot drive home telling her how dangerous it was to have walked three blocks and crossed the street twice without an adult. Once inside, I sent her for a timeout while I told Chris what happened and calmed down. After about 20 minutes of "cooling off", Chris and I brought her in to discuss what happened and the consequences of her actions. We gave it to her pretty straight and told her all the things that could have happened to her (hit by car, stranger-danger, etc.). It really broke my heart to have to talk to my 5-year old about all these horrible things, but I knew there was no other way to help her fully understand the gravity of the situation. By the end of the conversation, she and I were both crying. Fortunately, I think she got the gist of it and that made far more of an impact that any punishment we could have dished out.
1 comment:
Aaahhh...growing pains! She's growing and getting older and trying to find her way. Being in kindergarten with more rules, more things to HAVE to do, etc. is a hard adjustment. She's just testing the waters and testing you guys too. She's figuring out boundaries, rules and limits and is in a bit of a power struggle, but she's gonna be okay. She'll be MORE than okay. I know it's hard on you, as her parents, but try to laugh about it secretly together, knowing she's just a kid. And, Erna, you can blame Chris for any sort of rebellion she shows!
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