Thursday, December 13, 2007

"Had a Bad Day"


As I've written about before, my 7 year old just HATES school. This morning my 11 year old felt sick and I told him he could stay home. Well, suddenly 7 year old gets very upset. Why does he get to stay home? Then he has every excuse why HE should stay home, too.

"Do you know what will happen if I let you stay home from school too many times? They'll put me in jail!"

"That's dumb."

I very calmly told him he had to go to school. He started crying. I ran upstairs to take my shower. He followed me up the stairs.

"I have a fever! Can you at least take my temperature?"

I felt his head.

"You don't have a fever. Go brush your teeth."

Boo Hoo!!!

Out of all 4 of my kids, he hates school the most, always has. My 14 year old loves it. She didn't want to miss another day being sick. My 11 year old can take it or leave it. He loves his bus ride, a few of his teachers, and getting all A's. Even my 3 year old likes to play school all the time. She picks out her book bag in every store we're at. Seven year old - just plain HATES it. I really feel sorry for him. I know I wouldn't want to have to go to a job every day that I hated.

Every morning, I try to be as cheerful as I can. I wake him up early enough, so he's not rushed and has a little time for himself. I pick out clothes that are his favorites - comfy sweatpants and a hoodie. I make him hot cocoa with his breakfast. I try not to ever say the words, "Hurry up!". I cheerfully tell him to have a good day as he gets out of the car. All these things really help. But today, nothing was helping, knowing that his favorite big brother was home.

"What if I have a cough?"

"Then you'll just be coughing in school."

"What if I get diarrhea?"

"You won't!"

I had to put his shoes on myself. I had to zip his jacket. He just stood there sobbing. The whole way to school he just sobbed. As we pulled up to the doors he wiped his tears and blew his nose.

"You just want him to stay home with you so you can play games with him all day!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Besides, I'm going to take him to school today when he feels a little better."

"He better be at school when I get home or I'm going to be mad."

Or he's going to be mad? Is that me talking? I need to watch my words better! I hate dropping him off at school like this. I wanted to keep him home because I felt so bad for him, but what would that teach him? Poor thing.

When I got back home, I emailed his teacher and explained to her about why he looked the way he did today. She messaged me back and told me they had a nice calm day planned: watching Frosty the Snowman in the morning (he likes that, good) and listening to Christmas music in the afternoon. Christmas music? He hates music about as much as he hates school! He covers his ears and shuts his eyes sometimes. Maybe I should have kept him home!

I guess he's going to be "mad" anyway when he gets home. Big brother never made it to school.

12 comments:

Kitty said...

I've had this trouble with one of mine. We even saw a counsellor. We made a chart, and there were clear rewards for going off to school 'well'. At first a whole week of doing it well got something, then it was stretched to two weeks, and so on. It's still not easy, but it's miles better than it was. I know just how you feel leaving him all upset at shchool, it's horrible, isn't it? (((Maria))).

:-) x

Ally said...

Poor guy. :(
I hope it gets better eventually.

Cindy Breninger said...

My daughter loves school and gets sad when she can't, my son sounds more like yours. Good luck! ;)
Cindy
www.adayinthelifeofcindy.blogspot.com

Irene said...

I wonder what it is that he hates so much. Hopefully it is something that he will outgrow someday. If not, it is going to be a long 11 years!

Karen said...

That's so hard. How do you feel good about making him do something he hates?

Amy said...

sorry you have to go through this, it can't be easy to send him off when he's so miserable, I hope it gets better soon..

Anonymous said...

Poor guy! Hang in there, it has to get better, right?

Lester R.N. said...

Poor kid!! I had my neice live with me for awhile and she was 7 and it took a lot of work and encouragement and I had to say HURRY UP a lot because she would take forever getting ready just to prolong leaving!! Sad thing is she really didn't mind school just hated to get out of bed!!! I'm sure it will get better. When I was a kid I told my mom I was sick everyday for a couple of years!!!!

Suburban Correspondent said...

I hate it when my 7-year-old cries. He has always had the biggest tears; when he was little, I swear I used to get soaked when I held him when he was crying.

suchsimplepleasures said...

all my kids have gone through phases where they hate school. my littlest guy is in the phase, right now. it's such a struggle...and, it's only preschool!
hope it gets better for you!
have a great weekend!

Bronie said...

wow. i homeschool, and there have been days when my kids act like that...even when they can (occasionally) do their work in their jammies on the couch. i guess my point is that sometimes there's just NO pleasing them.

can i be real here? i have had a couple of days like that recently. sad, i know. we (and the kids) just need a break sometimes!

Summer said...

What a funny guy! My brother was the same way. He always hated school and he dropped out in 11th grade. Hopefully that won't be the case for your son.