So, about a month ago Ben went to see Dr. W and it was determined that, in fact, the reason he has been having so much trouble with everything is because he could not see. Okay, so glasses. My son is a very particular young man, and as expected glasses selection was a grueling process for him, but he finally found a pair that he loved. Not only did he love them, but they were on clearance. My son’s frames, ladies and gentlemen, cost $5. Yes, $5. You could have knocked me over with a feather. And then we discovered that transitions lenses for kids? Not crazy expensive at all AND they work.
So, he got his new glasses, came home with them, and then struggled with wearing them, remembering to put them on, remembering to put them in his case when not on his face, and so on. He had a huge melt down at church and threw them at me. It was a pretty rough adjustment period as those things go.
And then, one day, I realized I hadn’t seen him wear them for a couple of days. He really needs them to spot his turns, and I was all over him about finding them before dance auditions last weekend, but we didn’t find them. So he had to audition without and he’s a little concerned that it didn’t go as well as he had hoped it would.
Shortly after this, his sister mentions that the last time he had them was at a friend’s house. I called the friend’s mom and operation find Ben’s glasses was undertaken. And for several days, through cleaning his friend’s room, the play room, and so forth,the glasses were not found. Now, perhaps I should have paid closer attention to his sister, because the glasses were found this morning. In his sister’s best friend’s room.
It turns out that Katie saw Ben set his glasses down and walk away (instead of bringing them to me like he was supposed to). She took his glasses and hid them in her friend’s room (without her friend knowing, so Katie says), because she was afraid Ben would start chasing after her when he realized she had his glasses. Then she was afraid to tell us that she hid them because she thought we would be upset with her.
Likely not as much upset as I was about their friends’ house being turned upside down trying to find glasses that Katie could have taken us straight to at any time she wanted to. So, yeah. We had a conversation about the people she put out (all the folks who helped look for Ben’s glasses at the dance studio, at the church, and so forth), the people she hurt (Ben, who was treated to the same consequence Katie receives when Katie loses her glasses, except that he didn’t lose his glasses), and her poor friend who had no idea she was harboring Ben’s glasses the whole time.
She cried a lot. Agreed that a loss of device privileges was fair, plus apologizing to each person who was put out. She started this afternoon, but she will be on an apology tour for a few days. The hardest part for both of us was the fact that this isn’t who she is. Last Sunday, she very proudly read the definition of “honest” from the American Heritage Girls creed. She was so upset that she hadn’t been honest and said it made her feel bad.
Hopefully, this was a learning opportunity for her and she’ll remember the next time. But she’s six, so maybe not. Sigh.
Adjunctmom's Blog 