Bad days and whoopie cushions
Fyi — Am waiting on some info in regards to the ”Who does what at your house” post. Hope to have it up by the end of next week.
His kindergarten classroom is a buzzing, whirlwind of activity. You’ll often see some kids working in pairs on a project while others work on the floor by themselves. Yesterday when I walked into Seth’s class to volunteer, I saw him sitting at his seat, subdued and woefully eating his snack. Something wasn’t right with this usually energetic and enthusiastic boy.
I asked him what was wrong. “Nothing,” he mumbled while looking away.
His teacher promptly pulled me aside to tell me he had alot of trouble following directions in that first hour of class. At one point, when all of the kids got up to work on their projects (after gathering together to read a story) Seth remained on the floor by himself. He seemed so out of it, she noted.
I helped him and the other kids with an art project. While I cleaned up the tables, he was working on a numbers project. Or he was supposed to. He tried to mistakenly work on another child’s project and the teacher gave him a stern word telling him he had to work on his own number puzzle instead.
I watched him as he sat on the floor, hidden away in a corner, clutching pieces of puzzle, with an look of overwhelming defeat in his watery eyes. I told his teacher that he clearly was having an off day and asked if I could go over to where he was and give him a hug. She said, “ok.”
I knelt down by him and held his face against my chest while rubbing his back. Upon my touch, the fat tears welling up in his eyes began sliding down his face. We silently sat there watching our tears paint his shirt. When I had enough composure to speak I told him, “Seth, you’re just having a really bad day today. There are some days when it seems like everything is so hard. Everybody has those. I’ve had a few of those lately too. So has daddy. So does everyone. But just remember we love you no matter what kind of a day you have.” He looked deeply into eyes. He screwed up his courage.
I said, “You and I will do something special tonight, Ok? Tomorrow will be a much better day. You’ll see.”
At that point his teacher told everyone to line up for PE, so we both wiped our eyes and he left the room.
I went to the corner market and bought him a little “cheer up” present — a whoopee cushion. Because if something that makes fart noises can’t cheer up a 5-year-old boy? NOTHING can.
P.S. After the first few “fart” noises and a trip to his favoritest restaurant in the whole wide world, all of the difficulty of the day was forgotten. Seth (as well as his teacher) reported that today was a much happier day.
P.S. Dear Wordpress. If I wanted all of my copy jumbled up and made to look like I have no idea how to make paragraphs, I would have stuck with sucky ass Blogger, thank you very much. And the fact that I can fix it 500 times, save and have it look the same exact way it did prior is a HUGE reason as to why left Blogger. Must I move my stuff to another service? Is this a sign of things to come. Cause this little glitch is pissing me off!






Cheryl on 19 Oct 2007 at 12:44 pm #
My heart broke a little at the description of Seth’s despair. I think I’ll probably go all to pieces
the first time Ben is really upset and sad and downtrodden. You did a good job, mommy.
Andrea on 19 Oct 2007 at 2:47 pm #
Aw, poor Seth. It’s so hard to watch when our children aren’t having a good time of it. I’m glad you knew a good remedy for him.
P.S. I have the same problem with Wordpress, but it usually only takes one or two times to fix it. Have you emailed the support staff?
Farrell on 19 Oct 2007 at 5:57 pm #
1. I had tears in my eyes reading that.
2. Love the new header - beautiful pic. who took?
Kellan on 19 Oct 2007 at 6:28 pm #
Poor little Seth. I liked this story of how you were there to help him work through it. It was all so touching (well… until I got down to the PSS to Wordpress - HA). See ya.
Zookeeper on 19 Oct 2007 at 6:36 pm #
One of the most difficult things for me as a mom is to deal with how the world can affect my children. For so long we mothers are able to protect them from the world because, quite frankly, we ARE their world. Then suddenly they are old enough to be away from us for longer and longer periods of time and the things and people around them can so easily influence them, either in a positive or a negative way. I feel like my job is two-fold. First, try to ensure that my kids are surrounded by things and people that will affect them positively; and second, provide them with the skills to handle negative influences should they occur. It’s not always easy, especially when you see your child grieving. You did a great job of teaching Seth how to handle those negative influences. I bet he will remember what you told him the next time he is having a bad day.
Ruth Dynamite on 19 Oct 2007 at 7:14 pm #
This makes me so sad, but hearing the way you handled it was nothing short of triumphant. You put it all in perspective for him (in a Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse “tomorrow will be better” sort of way). Awesome!
Rebecca on 19 Oct 2007 at 10:22 pm #
Awww. . . how lucky is your Seth to have his mama there with him on one of his bad days; isn’t that all we ever really want or need?
Sugared Harpy on 19 Oct 2007 at 10:25 pm #
Yes, that is exactly why I left Blogger! I wonder what is up with wordpress for you? Is it the template messing with you? Get into your CSS and see if there is something squirrelly.
Poor Seth!
You are such a good mama, a whoopee cushion!!!!
Queen of the Mayhem on 19 Oct 2007 at 10:52 pm #
It is so heartbreaking to see our kids having a bad day!
It is doubly hard for me being both a teacher and a mommy. The mommy in me wants everyone to leave my babies alone…but the teacher in me KNOWS they have to follow the rules!
WOW! This mommy stuff is hard!
Nap Warden on 20 Oct 2007 at 12:59 am #
Poor little guy…You did a great job with a bad situation…I am glad he had a better day.
I am hatin’ on Blogger right now, I was considering Wordpress…Now I don’t know.
Jacquie on 20 Oct 2007 at 6:35 am #
Whoopee cushions are awesome! Well unless you are my 2 yr old.
Your guy sounds so dang sweet. Glad he had a better day.
Momish on 20 Oct 2007 at 4:20 pm #
Poor Seth! It is sad when children have off days, because to them it is the state of the world without the notion that it will get better and not be forever. It was a good thing you were there to help him through it though!
A Bun's Life on 20 Oct 2007 at 7:25 pm #
Poor guy! At least you were there for him during his bad day and could give him that little bit of extra
attention and love that he needed. Hugs to both of you. J has been sitting by himself on the bus
the past 2 weeks or so ’cause the girl he was sitting next to doesn’t want to sit next to him anymore. It
makes me sad, and I want to find out why, but he doesn’t seem too bent out of shape about it, so I can’t
make a big deal out of it. FYI–whenever I leave a comment I can keep typing right past the defines of the
box (although I can’t see the words) and if I want to see what I am typing I have to give a hard return. I
don’t know if it is firefox/my mac or Wordpress.
Mommy off the Record on 21 Oct 2007 at 5:57 am #
Aww. Poor guy. I’m glad the day ended on a better note. He is lucky to have such a caring mama.
Nancy R on 21 Oct 2007 at 10:02 pm #
Poor little dude. To add to his collection, you can find Flarp Noise Putty at Dollar General - you push your fingers into the silly putty-like stuff and it makes fart noises!
Elizabeth on 22 Oct 2007 at 1:07 am #
First I have to say, how fortunate that you were there to help him through that tough situation. Kindergarten is so much different today than when we were kids, sometimes it’s their first time away from home, and there are so many rules to remember and so much work to do. I know I never had homework when I was in kindergarten, but both of my boys did!
Question-Are you typing your posts using the Wordpress “Write post” page, or are you using a word processing program? The reason I ask is because I did a View Source on your page, and you’ve got lines of code that look like they make up this post, but the font is one I’ve never heard of-Calibri.
Also, there is a white box running down the left side of the page, it starts right under the words “watching our tears”, and ends under your BizRate ads. It could be the theme itself or something else. If you’d like me to take a look, email me and I can try to help!
chris on 23 Oct 2007 at 1:35 am #
AWWW!!
You are such a good mommy for helping him make his next day better! And for letting him know it was okay to have a bad day and that everyone does.
*hugs*
Alex Elliot on 23 Oct 2007 at 4:44 pm #
You’re such a great mom! Heck whoopee cushions make me laugh! Whenever my aunt hosts a big family get together, she hides whoopee cushion on a chair or couch. We find it funny every time. Glad that Seth had a better day.
slackermommy on 24 Oct 2007 at 4:40 am #
This breaks my heart. I can just picture Seth looking so sad. Connor has had some bad days also. Growing up really sucks sometimes.
Alexandra on 24 Oct 2007 at 3:35 pm #
Aw!! Yeah, a fart can fix anything!
Baby Jogger Stroller on 27 Oct 2007 at 6:45 pm #
Cool post on ays and whoopie cushions | Midwestern Mommy!