(no subject)

[ciroccoj]

Shit, man. Some days being a parent is heartwrenching.

Justin's wonderful amazing warm caring enthusiastic kindergarden teacher, Mrs. Breeze, is leaving. She's going on an exchange to Australia, January 2004-January 2005. We were told a few weeks ago, and I was very, very worried that this would be horrible for poor Justin; he's become so attached to her, he talks about her class all the time, and he's just so very happy to be in kindergarden - mostly because of her.

Justin was pretty nonchalant about it. Mrs. Breeze apparently read them a Franklin (or maybe Arthur) book about a new teacher and by happy coincidence, that teacher was from Australia. Justin was looking forward to meeting his new teacher, all was copacetic, carry on.

So today Chris reminded him that they were going to get a goodbye gift and make a goodbye card for Mrs. Breeze. Justin happily picked out a Christmas ornament, and cheerfully selected a card from Microsoft Publisher. And then Chris asked what he wanted to say in the card, and Justin said, "I will miss you when you go and my heart will be broken" and then he started to cry.

So. Full stop to the night's activity, with Justin eventually wailing full-tilt into Chris' shoulder while Chris, Daniel and I patted him and I felt pretty ready to cry too.

There are so many parts of life that are so incredibly painful for kids to learn about, and you wish so much that you could shield them or take the pain away or take it on yourself, somehow, and you just can't. It's horrible.

Comments

[officerjudy.livejournal.com]

Awww. Poor kid.

::sniffles::

[jenniferjames.livejournal.com]

::snuggles little Justin::

[linaelyn.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I know this pain.

The other day, seven year old YK turned to me, out of the blue, and said, "Mommy? You're going to die before me, aren't you?"

"I'm not going to die for a long long long time, sweetie. It's not something you need to worry about. I'm healthy and strong and don't do things that are likely to kill me. I will be with you, and watch you grow up."

"Yes, but when I'm a grandma, and you're a great grandma, you'll finally bget very old and die. Right?"

"Yes. That's the way the world works, when everything goes perfectly."

"And I'll miss you." *BIG TEARS*

"Me too, honey." *BIG TEARS ON MOMMY TOO*

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

"And I'll miss you." *BIG TEARS*

Yeah, I can imagine that. I think I was the same age when the same thing occurred to me, and it's tough to deal with.

"Me too, honey." *BIG TEARS ON MOMMY TOO*

I don't know about you, but if anybody had tried to explain to me just how much a child's pain can hurt their parents before I had children, I don't think I could have possibly understood. I read somewhere "having children is like having your heart walking around outside your body." It's so true.

And I wish so much that it wasn't his very first teacher ever who is going away in the middle of the year. And that this hadn't happened the same year that he lost his grandmother. He's having a terrible year, and there's not a lot we can do to make it better.

[snarkhunter.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor baby.

::sends long-distance hugs to Justin::

I hope his new teacher is equally wonderful.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, so do I. She's got big shoes to fill though. And I can't help worrying that anything less will not be good enough, what with Justin's propensity for loudness and roughness. She seems to have taken it completely in stride and channelled his energy in positive ways far better than I've ever been able to. If his new teacher just tries to discipline him by damping him down... I don't even want to think about it.

::calm blue ocean, think positive thoughts::