Instead, Jack said he'd been thinking about a story I told him a long time ago about how I went through this weird period in college when I was suddenly afraid of flying. Then one day I was on a plane, feeling nervous, and I realized that if the plane was going to go down it was going to go down, and my feeling nervous wasn't going to stop it. From that moment on, I've been fearless on planes.
Jack took my story and applied it to fighting against the math assignments. "I'm going to have to do it anyway whether I complain or not, so I might as well just do it."
Smart kid. I'm impressed with how often he takes something he's learned in one context and applies it to another.
Just last week, for example, I unexpectedly lost my temper. It had nothing to do with Jack, but I saw the look on his face as I railed against something I've been frustrated about. A couple of hours later he was helping me carry some things to the trash bin at the end of the driveway, and I apologized to him for my behavior and tried to explain that I wasn't nuts.
"I know, Mom. I figure you just had a Jem moment."
"A what?"
"You know, when Jem is so mad at people saying bad things about his dad that he lops the tops off that lady's flowers with Scout's baton." We've been reading To Kill a Mockingbird together this summer.
Exactly, Jack. Exactly.
2 comments:
What a wonderful lesson. And relating to classic literature, too. Priceless.
It's fun when your kids teach you something. And you realize a) They are in some ways smarter than you, at least you at that age. b) They are becoming AWESOME people, and you get to witness their growth up close and personal! And you feel so humbled and blessed that you get to be the ones to guide them.
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