Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Romeo Can't Play Today, He's Grounded!

My 8 year old has always had a girl crazy streak, even as a baby but I came across something while I was cleaning today that just freaked me out a bit. I found a letter he had written to a classmate and this is what it said...

10/9/08
Dear Maekena,
I like love you. I haven't had the time to tell you.

OH...MY...GOSH! He is 8! Aren't girls suppose to have cooties? I am glad he never "had the time" to give it to her. Or maybe he did, maybe that was just a rough draft. I don't know. I decided I need to have a talk with him about girls and what is appropriate at his age. As I am having this revelation the phone rings...

P-"Hello, Mrs. Moncur?"
Me-"Yes"
P-"This is Mrs. P. Vootz is okay, I don't want you to be alarmed. But he is having some trouble today with being distracted, talking, not listening and not getting his work done. I just wanted to make you aware of the situation."
Me-"Okay, thank you. I will have a talk with him when he gets home and we will solve the problem. Thank you for keeping me informed."
P-"No problem Mrs. Moncur Thank you. I will be looking forward to a better day with Vootz tomorrow. Bye"

Double Whammy! When I picked Vootz up from school he had that hang dog look on his face. He knew Mrs. P had called me and he knew he was going to be in trouble. He sulked all the way home. When we got home I called him into the office and shut the door...

Me-"Umm, Vootz who is Maekena?"

Vootz-"Just a friend mom" looking around frantically trying to figure out how I knew about Maekena and why I wasn't talking about his behavior at school today. Then he spies the letter in my hand. "What!? That's mine! I had it in my own personal journal stuff! Mom! You're not suppose to read people's private property!"

Me-"First of all Vootz, as long as you live under my roof for free, you have no private property. Second of all, I found this on the floor of your bedroom, not in your journal. Third, you should not be telling girls that you love them."

Vootz-"It's not like that mom! I mean I love her like a friend. And those brothers of mine got into my stuff mom! I had that with my baseball cards and my journal and they are not suppose to touch them. I put a sign on them that said to keep out!"

Me-"Maybe, if you mean it like a friend next time you should just say that you like her and are glad that you are friends, not that you love her. The only girls you should say that to are mommy, aunts and grandmas. You know that there is to be no hugging, kissing or holding hands right? No girlfriends Vootz until you are in high school, remember? And if you don't want your brothers who CANNOT read to get into your things a sign that they have to read is probably not your best choice right? Maybe you should try putting your stuff away in your drawer that they cannot reach next time. Also we don't have any secrets from mom and dad okay. If there is something you cannot talk to us about then it is something you should not be doing. If you do it anyway, you will get in trouble and don't think we won't find out about it because we will. Parents always do, it is like a super power we have. So, no secrets, Deal?

Vootz-"Okay mom. Can I have a snack now?" walking out the door.

Me-"HOLD IT! I am not done with you. Sit down!"

Vootz-Flops back into the chair and rolls his eyes.

Me-"Unless you want me to knock those eyes out of your head don't you dare roll them at me again!"

Vootz-"Sorry mom, I've just had a bad day okay!" *tears flowing* "And you're just going to make it worse. Sometimes I just can't sit still, I just get tired of school and I have so much going on in my head and I just need to talk it out.

The conversation continued on for about an hour so I won't bore you with anymore dialog. Let me just say, I am sorry mom and dad for all the hell I put you through as a kid and all those times you cursed me to have a kid just like me! Yep thanks alot, are ya happy now? Want to know what he had going on in his head that was so important to talk about? My brother got in a car accident in his patrol car Saturday and he said he was worried about Uncle J. and was wondering how the crash happened if the other patrol car hit him on the side or in the front and if Uncle J's car flipped over....So I guess he was talking through how he figured the accident went down to his neighbor and then after being told to quit talking to the neighbor he was talking it out to himself and got in trouble.

BTW...my brother is fine. A little sore with some little scratches and bruises but just fine. His car however, not so much. And the guy they were chasing was caught so that is good.

6 comments:

Beyla said...

Poor baby!! Kids do need to talk it out sometimes. How wonderful that he's able to explain his need to do just so to his mommy! My mom called it "emptying the tape" when I started going - every night when she'd put me to bed I'd talk and talk and talk and talk.. and the days after she had put me to bed, I'd function very well in school, the days she hadn't would often be quite chaotic..!
And I dare say missy, I love the calm discipline you got going. Well done!

The Queen Bee said...

OOH Girl. Just be glad you have boys and not girls. I have O who has a boy after her in every town. As for the journal thing I'm a firm believer that they are off limits,as long as they are put up. If I happen to find one open on the floor it's fair game and K has learned that really quickly.

All Things BD said...

Oh, man. I found a similar note in my 8 year old daughter's room last month. We decided to pretend we never saw it, but maybe I should have brought it up with her. It didn't seem like a note she was giving to the boy, though, so I don't know.

Sigh. 8 is WAY TOO YOUNG to be dealing with this stuff. :)

JR Hart said...

A lot of time, kids will mimic and emulate what they have seen elsewhere. A 4 year old girl might try and "kiss" a boy cuz she has seen her mommy do it to her daddy. Sometimes it isn't as big of a deal as we think... but sometimes it can be. Kids pick up on stuff way to quick. I have a 4 year old on my caseload who insists she is going to marry me someday, haha.

And I'm not sure if God made kids to be sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day studying when there is a whole wide world out there to be exploring. There were plenty of times I felt like screaming and running out of a classroom and out into the sunshine... and freedom.

Maria said...

well, atleast he's not a late bloomer, right? i think every sibling of mine (and myself) didn't figure out girls and boys til quite later!!...maybe too late (j/k) nice parenting though...i have no idea what i'm doing, so i always try to pay attention to other people's tactics and learn from them. are you guys getting ready for christmas?

Jeff and Holly said...

I can see it all so clearly! Your 8 year old is a couple years ahead of himself! My boys still are staying far away from girls, atleast that I know of. We had the "little" talk with my 11 year old last week, he was HORRIFIED by it. I will blame that one on Jeff, he was way too spacific! I am just hoping he will be like Jeff's Brother and hold off on the serious girlfriend stuff until he is home from his mission. That goes for the others too!
Glad your brother is okay.