Hello Pot. It's Kettle Calling

Today went really well. Sarah and I were able to work through all of the lesson plans. She's begging me to add in history. Her Aunt Teresa who loves history would be proud! At the moment though, I'm not ready to add it in. The curriculum that we are using calls for it to be taught after we get through the science lessons. At the rate we are going, I'll have to start adding it in next week.

Now that public school is back in, Sarah's no longer has Celia to pal around with. That's not so bad until we finish up with the daily lessons. The she longs for her friend to come home. It's all I can do to get her to wait until 4 o'clock. She detests my requirement that she let Celia have some time with her family before she goes over to steel her away!

This evening she was chomping at the bit to head over to the neighbors. However Sarah soon found out that Celia wanted to spend some time in front of the TV. She came home upset and on the verge of tears.

Let me stop right here and tell you that I'm not an overly emotional person. I'm more like a guy when it comes to that. When Sarah started going through the emotional side of growing up, it took all I had to stay compassionate and not tell her to get over it. It's hard for me to deal with her very real feelings when my analytical side says "Come on girl. It's not that big of a deal." But, I know that it is to her even if it makes absolutely no sense.

So, I cautiously approached the loaded pistol known to most as my daughter. I quietly asked her what was going on. That was all it took. She started crying and angrily reciting the events of the previous few minutes. All Celia wanted to do was watch her precious TV and not play with Sarah. She didn't want to come finish the game or go outside. What was wrong with that girl? Through tears and body trembles, Sarah recounted that disastrous event.

As the emotional outburst somewhat calmed, I tentatively stepped in and let her know that Celia hadn't spent much time at home recently and maybe wanted to hang out with her folks for a while. Of course I'm also just a dumb Mom who knows nothing. What was I thinking? She lit into me for my wrong interpretations of Celia's actions. Didn't I know that Celia loved the TV more than she loved Sarah?

I told Sarah that it was funny that she faulted Celia for that because she's done it plenty of times before. Something on the TV or web will get her attention and it's like a mini-world war trying to pull her away. That observation was not appreciated. Having your mom compare you to the perpetrator or your current woes only leads to more disdain from the "enlightened" child.

This went on for a few minutes and then I told Sarah it was time to calm down. Sometimes a break leads to rational thinking... Then Daniel came home for a few minutes. I asked him if he would rescue Sarah from herself by distracting her. He gladly took her with him to youth band practice. What's even funnier, is that 5 minutes after they left, Celia started knocking on the back door. Ahh, timing...

If Sarah is this emotional now, what will I do when she hits puberty? Maybe I'll think happy thoughts. Yeah, that's right, happy thoughts...