Sucking Up

Trip, trap.

Trip, trap.

Up the stairs I hear those little footsteps. Into my room comes a boy weilding a yellow plastic plate holding one Eggo waffle drenched in syrup, a knife and a fork. He deposits the offering on my lap and runs back down the stairs to retrieve a big glass of milk. "Here Mom, your breakfast" he proclaims.

I thank him and he scurries back downstairs to make breakfast for his brother and sister, toaster and microwave breakfast (safety first). Did we miss Mother's Day? Nope. Did we forget Mommies birthday? Nope. Are we still feeling guilty for writing "you're next!" on the outside of the house? Yup!

Guilt. It is eating him up inside and the fact that I had to discipline him for something like that is hard to me to swallow too. You see, he doesn't do things like that. Yes, I am not the all-knowing guru of raising kids, but it was very out of character for him. He is the type to remind his sibling that something isn't safe or allowed. He likes to play cop and keep everybody in check.

So, it was rather surprising to find the "graffiti" scratched into the paint outside the house. And rather surprising to be lied to, and only told the truth when I pointed out that I would have to be calling the police about this because if you two didn't do this than . . . you get the picture. He went to his room for a while, I explained to him that he would be helping Dad fix it later and I tried to convey that I was pretty disappointed that he thought it was a good idea to do that.

Why is it so hard to discipline your kids sometimes? I don't have any problem removing little sister when she's acting up. I don't have issues with taking action when it comes to big brother and his back talk or outright refusal to do something I ask. But he, he hardly ever gets into trouble. He's my "easy" boy, low-maintenance and trouble free.

Trying to maintain a realistic view, I know that they are all different. I try so hard not to place them into the stereo typical boxes of their birth order or gender. And then I get completely thrown off kilter when one behaves outside the "norm". It is the norm that I am used to, the norm of our family's dynamics, the way in which we relate to each other. We all have our roles to which we have fallen in to and when we step outside of those roles, it can be a little strange.

And so, someone stepped out of line, out or their "role" for a moment and made a mistake. I am over it, he will be soon, I hope. Because,I don't know how many more waffles I can eat, or glasses of milk I can pretend to drink to make him feel better!