One of my kids, who shall remain nameless got reaaaaalllllly mad at another one of my also nameless kids. It was after Vespers tonight and it was just me and the two of them and I was inside doing confession and they were outside playing and wondering where I was.
So, I came out of the chapel, and there were happy kid noises and based on the shouts I heard, some kids were pretending some sort of wizard of Oz game because I heard certain voices trying to include nameless kid number one as the cowardly lion. Obviously, based on nameless number one's reaction, he/she did NOT want to be the cowardly lion and so nameless1 hit nameless2 TWICE and there was a bit of a frakas.
I made them apologize to each other, but nameless1 was really really mad. Way out of proportion to the situation. Part of me was wanting to scream and yell and holler "Just get over it already, it'd no big deal." It was an Asperger's Sydrome moment for nameless1 and he/she did NOT have the oooomph to get over anything and was actually quite raging mad. I managed to be patient.
That's the dark side of Asperger's syndrome: Rages. Those rages do frighten me a bit sometimes. But we've never really had anything violent happen in our family and I do feel blessed for it.
So, we got home and nameless1 contained him/herself fairly well and went into a private room. I sent Wes in to deal with nameless1 while I cooked dinner. At this point, nameless2 was completely over it.
So dinner is made, and nameless1 decided to eat alone in another room. Fine, let him/her. So we ate. After dinner I took nameless1 a cookie and told him/her that he/she HAD to forgive his/her sibling. I told nameless it was for the sake of his/her own soul and that holding on to anger will only damage oneself and not the other person. Nameless1 was holding a PVC pipe marshmallow gun.
"Do you think you can forgive your sibling?"
"Well, if he/she waves a white flag."
"Ok, shall I get a white flag?"
"No, I have plans..."
"And then what are you going to do? Shoot your sibling with the marshmallow gun of forgiveness?"
"Sure that works!"
So I fetched some marshmallows and nameless1 put a hand knitted white sock on an old walking stick with some string and nameless2 agreed to wave the white sock flag, kneel and try to catch the marshmallows of forgiveness in his/her mouth. Nameless2 did not quite succeed at catching them orally, but did eat them off the floor, and all was made right again as they giggled at the hilarity of it all.
Silliness, once again, seems to win the day at our house. I do want them to learn good lessons, no matter the cost. Even if the price is silliness and laughter. It is, after all, said to be the best medicine.
So, I came out of the chapel, and there were happy kid noises and based on the shouts I heard, some kids were pretending some sort of wizard of Oz game because I heard certain voices trying to include nameless kid number one as the cowardly lion. Obviously, based on nameless number one's reaction, he/she did NOT want to be the cowardly lion and so nameless1 hit nameless2 TWICE and there was a bit of a frakas.
I made them apologize to each other, but nameless1 was really really mad. Way out of proportion to the situation. Part of me was wanting to scream and yell and holler "Just get over it already, it'd no big deal." It was an Asperger's Sydrome moment for nameless1 and he/she did NOT have the oooomph to get over anything and was actually quite raging mad. I managed to be patient.
That's the dark side of Asperger's syndrome: Rages. Those rages do frighten me a bit sometimes. But we've never really had anything violent happen in our family and I do feel blessed for it.
So, we got home and nameless1 contained him/herself fairly well and went into a private room. I sent Wes in to deal with nameless1 while I cooked dinner. At this point, nameless2 was completely over it.
So dinner is made, and nameless1 decided to eat alone in another room. Fine, let him/her. So we ate. After dinner I took nameless1 a cookie and told him/her that he/she HAD to forgive his/her sibling. I told nameless it was for the sake of his/her own soul and that holding on to anger will only damage oneself and not the other person. Nameless1 was holding a PVC pipe marshmallow gun.
"Do you think you can forgive your sibling?"
"Well, if he/she waves a white flag."
"Ok, shall I get a white flag?"
"No, I have plans..."
"And then what are you going to do? Shoot your sibling with the marshmallow gun of forgiveness?"
"Sure that works!"
So I fetched some marshmallows and nameless1 put a hand knitted white sock on an old walking stick with some string and nameless2 agreed to wave the white sock flag, kneel and try to catch the marshmallows of forgiveness in his/her mouth. Nameless2 did not quite succeed at catching them orally, but did eat them off the floor, and all was made right again as they giggled at the hilarity of it all.
Silliness, once again, seems to win the day at our house. I do want them to learn good lessons, no matter the cost. Even if the price is silliness and laughter. It is, after all, said to be the best medicine.
Comments
I've got to get one of those guns...