Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Ugly

Last week was a bad week. Very bad. I can’t think of time when I’ve felt less equal to the task of parenting (actually I can...the first two years of the twins’ lives and M’s 5th and 6th years).


I don’t know the right way to respond to a child who filches pocket knives out of drawers, one who spits in my face, one who kicks and hits me, one who sprays the hose directly into the house. I know lots of wrong ways.


Mainers use the word “ugly” to describe a type of personality or behavior--angry, mean, grouchy, ill-behaved. We all four were ugly last week.


It was the first week of school. The first week of Kindergarten at a new school for the twins. It was probably a hard transition from summertime’s easy living to learning new rules, meeting new people, holding it all in and behaving for six hours. Every day I failed. It was also 90 degrees and 85 percent humidity every day, with high ozone and particulate matter in the air. Too much for even heat-loving me. Weather that can make anyone ugly.


I tried to be understanding. Every day I vowed to be more calm, patient, loving. Every day I failed.


I tried to build extra moments of connection into our days--reading books in the afternoon, letting them squeeze lemons beside me as I made dinner, coming home early with ice cream sandwiches and filling the pool, lying in bed with them after lights out.

And still they were ugly at dinnertime and bedtime and wake-up time and pick-up time. And I was even uglier because I resented that I had made those extra efforts and there appeared to be no benefit. I did not want to be around them. I wanted to run away to a villa in Tuscany. I could hear my own voice in their angry interactions with each other and it made me sick to my stomach.


Friday was the worst--they had the day off of school and I had it off work. We were going to go up to our friends’ camp on the lake, but decided to put it off one day because of Hurricane Earl’s expected arrival, which was a huge mistake. It was still hot, a perfect day to be at the lake. Having other people around to pay them attention and being outside on the water would have calmed everyone’s ugliness I’m sure.


Finally, I shut myself in my room just to avoid any more confrontations. I did some sewing, some lying on the bed blankly, some cleaning. I could hear them downstairs making messes. I could hear them outside, with M as the director of activities. When C came home, he took them all out to dinner and left me home alone.


I reread the short story, “Boys” by Rick Moody. It reminded me that boys are dirty, smelly, ill-mannered creatures, not the angelically behaved cherubs that appear to exist all over blog-land. The reality is much less pleasant, I reminded myself, but a lot more interesting. I would prefer interesting children to pleasant ones, right?


I had just written a short piece about nature journaling as a form of meditation, so I took myself outside to contemplate the sunflowers and the stunted giant pumpkins, colored pencils in hand. I lay on the couch mindlessly. I ate cold onion rings and half a pint of Ben & Jerry’s after C got home (emotional eating always helps). I told myself I just needed some restorative time to myself, but really, I just did not want to be around my own children.


I hope our weekend at the lake helped and we’ll all feel restored this week (though what I truly needed was a weekend in a sensory deprivation chamber!) and better able to cope with whatever comes along.

4 comments:

  1. I don't know about those cherubic boys (or endlessly helpful girls) I read about in blog-land either, but sounds like you had a challenging week in a way many mothers could relate to.
    It's so hard when our kids are out of control and then there we go right after them.
    We parents are learning and growing along with our kids, we're not perfect and our children are champions at triggering some of those "uglier" reactions. I've been there, oh have I been there.
    Take care Andrea, I hope things mellow for your boys.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hugs. I hope you have a more peaceful week. It is so hard when things are like that. I tell my kids "don't wake the mean mother' (but that's not actually the word I use), but they inevitably choose to wake her for some strange unfathomable reason. They don't like her but they just won't let her sleep.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We know ugly here, too. And while I vow to remain patient & not get tense & yell, I join in the ugly. School time & commitments we all must get to on a timely manner make for a rude awakening after summer time hours & flexibility. Hang in.

    ReplyDelete
  4. all those cherubs that seem to exist in blog-land exist ONLY in blog-land. Not, you know, real life.
    Life is messy. Boys (and girls) are messy and volatile and moody. And we all have difficulty with change. The start of the school year is stressful, for everyone. And, you already know my views on kindergarten...
    hang in there. I hope things have gotten better and adjustments to all the change have started to happen.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...