Patience

My boys….. for this writing I will refer to them as ‘Older one’ and ‘Younger one,’ even if it is tempting to go with ‘thing one’ and ‘thing two.’

-Older one: “I told him he has to get ready right away and everything done when he gets up and then he isn’t brushing his teeth when it’s time to go.”

“Oh, thanks, that’s thoughtful of you,” I reply, wondering if he realizes the irony of his statement after 15 years of this being his method of ‘getting ready.’

-Younger one (yelling), “I can’t find my PANTS mom, that’s why I am not getting my shoes on! And I hate my hair, this piece is sticking up.”

“Well, you have had 45 minutes to figure that out,” I reply, surprising myself with how calm I feel, as we are actually needing to be pulling out of the driveway at that very moment.

-Older one: “I just want healthy stuff! Like different fruit, maybe some protein bars and some meal stuff. I’m tired of those brownie things and fruit roll ups. I just want more healthy stuff.”

“That’s fine, see what you like and pick out fruits then,” I answer, aiming to keep a straight face at the boy who brought 6 donuts home from his job and ate 2 for breakfast that very morning. As if I’ve held him back from eating healthy and not offered healthy options in our house. I didn’t want to discourage the newfound awareness and attitude though, so I refrained from comment. I told my husband later, you’d think we’d been buying healthy food and hide it in our closets and only we, the adults were allowed to eat it.

Older one is in the home stretch, the final months of grade 12. And the younger one has just turned 13. The Older one has been having a much better grade 12 year, the maturity has been gradual but noticeable this full year and we’ve turned the corner from the moodiness and general angst that they can go through. And we begin again just in the last weeks with the Younger one. It feels as though an actual baton has been handed from Older one to Younger one. Younger one has always been our better eater though, so I am sure for the most part at the beginning of his teenage years, he is just ‘hangry.’ Fill his belly, and he’ll be ok.

My patience has improved. The quote above is very true. Many mornings I have ‘lost it,’ with trying to get out of the house on time. But they are also the reason to do better each day, at least, that’s always the intention. To model the ideal behavior and patience, which is easier said than done, so it hasn’t been easy. But, gradually, we are getting there.

Sending Love,

Devon