My son is also pretty reasonable, even as an 11-year-old,
except for the times when his emotional state rises and falls in rapid fire succession and
we all get a front-row seat to the one-man show I like to call Rage and Crying. This can happen at any time, like in the
middle of a spirited discussion with his sister about how she stores her Barbie
dolls’ clothing, or like when I ask him to turn off his computer when he still
has four minutes of screen time left.
What can be hard to handle, however, is when both boys are
home with me at the same time, and the other girl is not here to run
interference. Especially if the boys
didn’t really plan on being at home in the first place, but they are due to
plans falling through or other things like illness or broken down cars, which
is what is happening today. Right now.
The boys in my house are like dogs: they require constant
companionship, recognition, and reward.
They are needier than newborns, these boys. They need a job to do, and if they did not
plan to be here on an extended basis but are because of uncontrollable outside events,
I am relied upon to occupy them.
And that is exhausting. And I am kind of lazy to boot, so I don’t
enjoy the extra work it takes to entertain a couple of men who don’t know how
to put their time in peacefully and quietly at home and instead spend their
unoccupied time wandering around aimlessly and getting into my business. Especially when I’m also not feeling
well. I mean, I’m already kind of
resenting the fact that no one around here would eat anything but potato chip
crumbs and 100-calorie snack packs unless I lovingly prepared vats of homemade
family chow that they still turn up their noses at in favor of the boxes of Little
Debbies I keep on hand for when I am jonesing for a swiss roll the kids’
lunch boxes.
So what is an overworked, mildly ill mom to do?
So far, all I have come up with is to hide in the TV room, watch
taped awards show ceremonies and HBO on demand, blog a little, and ride
the day out.
*******
My daughter is way more needy than my sons are. She can talk my ears off. The main problem is that I am the exact same way - or at least I was as a kid - so there's the added guilt of having given her my genes. :-)
ReplyDeleteMom guilt sure does know how to worm its way into just about every facet of being a mother, doesn't it?
DeleteOh, the guilt is a horrible monster, isn't it? I think it's part of the new mother package you get installed with the baby. Honestly. Sorry you are feeling under the weather - bad enough alone, but with two sad boys in addition? Hope they found a project!
ReplyDeleteThey did! It's called work and school. :)
DeleteFunny, I'm feeling much better today.