Thursday, July 25, 2013

Peaks and Valleys

If I could chart my kids' personalities they would look very different. Jake would be a ragged series of highs and lows. Abby would be an elevated horizontal, not many fluctuations but consistently happy. Sam's would also be fairly consistent but a little less giddy. He doesn't exist in Abby's near-constant state of giggles and sunshine, but he's generally a happy kid.

Except when he's not.

Last week he attended a golf camp. He enjoyed the camp, the kids and the instructor, but when I picked him up on Thursday he was sobbing. Sobbing. The teacher gave me a "what are you going to do?" look and told me they were playing a round of golf on the simulator and Sam was in last place. That's what sent him over the edge.

I didn't make a big deal of it. He was hot and tired and the summer schedule, or lack of one, has us all a little discombobulated.

But Thursday night after everyone was in bed, Sam came into my bedroom and told me he was feeling bad about the way he acted. He said it was the last day of camp and he didn't want his teacher to remember him that way and could he go back tomorrow and apologize.

Long story short ... he did. I drove him to camp Friday afternoon. He tracked down his instructor and apologized.

I've been proud of Sam for many things .... soccer goals, report cards, science fair presentations, School of Rock performances, but this was different. This was a mature decision and a bold act for a kid who tends to be shy and introverted.

It was definitely a peak on the chart.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Me: Why is there water all over the bathroom floor?

Someone: It's not water, it's urine.

Me: Why is there urine all over the bathroom floor?

Monday, July 22, 2013

Don't You Forget About Me

It's interesting what summer boredom will do to you. These days I'll consider just about any activity as long as it keeps us cool, stops the kids from fighting for 30 minutes or more, and doesn't contribute to the trash heap that has become our home.

One night last week, which was an especially harried and harrowing week for reasons I won't go into here, I decided to force the kids down for a movie early in the evening with the hope everyone would go to sleep reasonably early. That movie was the Breakfast Club.

I have fond memories of the Breakfast Club. I remember when I saw it and who I saw it with. My high school friends and I quoted that movie for years. It was one of the first movies we felt really talked to us and accurately for us.

What I didn't remember is that it's a little salty. There's the language (worthy of an R rating), the sexual innuendo, and oh yes, the pot smoking. Luckily, most of that went over the boys' heads, and as it turns out, they loved it, mostly for the reasons I did as a teenager.

I'll admit I was surprised at how relevant it still seemed, how accurately it depicts the way teenagers speak and interact.

But the biggest surprise, much to my chagrin, was that I now identify more with Principal Vernon than with the kids.

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Let Me Explain

The movie Pitch Perfect and its soundtrack are on heavy rotation in our house. And our cars. And our iPods. While some of the songs are completely inappropriate for the kids, I have to admit I'm enjoying the kids enjoying the songs I loved in the 80s and 90s. It took some convincing for the kids to believe that "Hey Mickey" was a popular song when I was younger. I had to show them the video to prove it was originally sung by a girl.

But what was harder to explain was the concept of music videos and MTV. I told the kids I remember the first MTV music video I ever saw (Land Down Under by Men at Work) and how I stayed up for 36 hours watching MTV the weekend we got cable. MTV was the Facebook of my generation. The Xbox. The iPad. Bryon and I spent a good deal of time extolling the wonders of MTV and the early days of great music videos. But the kids were nonplussed and unimpressed.

In the end I never thought I'd feel so old talking about MTV.