It's Friday. Who can think of a witty title on a Friday?

This week it finally happened.  The things I've been dreading about sending my kids to school.  Ava came home Wednesday crying because nobody wanted to play with her at recess.  My heart absolutely sank to my toes.  I may have even been stepping on it, it hurt so much when Ava first told me while crying her heart out.  Of course the tired didn't help the crying (She is SO my daughter!) and boy are my kids T-I-double ERRED these days.  After a lot of hugs and a bit of gentle digging it turned out to be not exactly the case.  It was more a mix-up that became a misunderstanding that turned itself into hurt feelings and a case of amnesia about the kids she did play with (Oh, yeaaaahhh I forgot I played with them!).

Once we got to the bottom of it all she felt better, I felt better, Tristan suggested we make Ava her favourite lunch and told her she could play with him anytime she wants and then we talked about being proactive.  What?  That's a big word for a Kindergartener you say?  I thought so too until they came home using it! Their school teaches the students Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and the first principle the kids learn is to be proactive.  I am a very firm believer in being proactive and we teach our kids about making good choices with our attitudes and not falling apart when things don't go our way because it doesn't solve anything etc, etc. Are you remembering how I completely fell apart over my washing machine right now?  I told you, the tired doesn't help the crying!  Obviously I'm not perfect at being proactive but it is something I strive for and something I've been teaching my kids about.  I hadn't actually used the word proactive before because Hugh always accuses me of using words that are too big when I talk to the kids but how else do you describe "fundamentally opposed to your course of action and if you persist you will reap the consequences"?  Kidding!

Anyway, during Ava's favourite lunch (KD that particular day) we did some "what could you do next time?" scenario conversations.  I asked her what kinds of proactive things she could do and together we brainstormed a few different action plans.  "Because," I said, "it's better to be proactive right?  Sitting on the playground crying doesn't fix anything does it?"
"No, Mom," Tristan said with the tone I use when I'm trying to patiently explain something I think they should already know.  "That's being very REactive."
Well thanks for clearing that up for me Stephen Covey Jr.

Today we had another thing I've dreaded about school.  Crazy Hair Day.  Okay it's not crazy hair day I've dreaded exactly, more what it brought up and what it brought up was a boy who only wanted to have normal hair.  The unspoken part being, he didn't want to look different, didn't want kids to laugh at him.  Honestly as a parent I had to struggle with it too.  What if no one else does their kids hair crazy?  What if I'm setting them up to get teased?  I came to the conclusion that now was as good a time as any to encourage my kids not to care what people think, not to just blindly follow the pack and be suffocated, repressed by fear.  God hasn't given us a spirit of fear!  Ava, of course, was totally into it but at the last minute Tristan changed his mind and my kids went to school looking likes 80's punk rockers.  I told the kids if anyone says, "Whoa. That is crazy hair." they were to respond, "THAT'S CUZ IT'S CRAZY HAIR DAY!"  We got to the kids class and almost all the girls had crazy hair but only one other little boy.  One kid looked at Tristan and said, "Oh my god! Look at your hair! My mom wanted to put mine in ponytails but I said NO WAY!  I didn't want to be laughed at."  At which point Tristan looked at me and said, "Mom, don't leave me.  Please don't leave me."  This from the boy who has yet to say good-bye to me in the mornings because he's so excited to get to the welcome circle.  My heart sank but I smiled big and said, "Crazy hair day is going to be awesome!  Why don't you go sit by the boy with bright green hair?  You guys can be crazy hair buds today."  Thankfully Tristan thought that was a great idea and perked up but honestly?  I wish it were already 3:00.  I just want to know he's okay.  I guess if he's not I can remind him not to be so reactive.