My Not So Little Baby Boy

Wednesday, 5/27/15

Last night for bed time stories I decided to pick one from the Friend Magazine that I had gotten a few weeks earlier but hadn't opened yet with the kids. We read a story about being nice and being a good friend. The story was about a 5th grade girl who had had some experiences in the past with boys who were mean causing her to decide that all boys are mean. One day it was raining to the kids had to stay inside to play. A boy in her class went up to this girl and a couple of her friends who were playing a game and asked if he could play. The girl couldn't think of a time that he had been mean but because he was a boy and she had decided that boys are mean she wouldn't let him play. She saw how sad he was as he walked away and felt really bad. She told her friends she didn't want to play the game anymore, went back to her desk and said a prayer telling Heavenly Father how sorry she was and that she never wanted to be mean like that again. Over the next couple of days she noticed that not all boys are mean and eventually apologized to the original boy for being so mean and not letting him play. They talked and became friends.

After reading the story I asked Braxton some questions about the story to make sure he understood what it was about - Was the girl nice at the beginning of the story? What did she do? How did the boy feel? etc

After talking about the story and stressing how important it is to be nice to everyone and let others play with us I decided to talk to him about school. I mentioned that if he ever sees someone all by them self he should ask them if they want to play with him. He thought about it for a second then said, "Or if I'm at recess and no one is playing with me I can ask someone if they want to play with me and if they say no I can go and ask someone else. Then we can play together."

What he said hit me like a ton of bricks! My baby boy isn't so little anymore. The last 5 years I have been able to protect him from the bad/mean things of this world. In a couple of months he's going to walk out the door for his first day of Kindergarten and from then on I'll loose some of my protection abilities. I can't be with him every second to make sure he is doing the right things. That he isn't being made fun of or making fun of someone else. That he isn't playing at recess or eating lunch alone. That he always has a buddy during group work. I won't be able to keep him safe when he's away and I hate it!! We as his family will no longer be the only influence in his life. He's going to be introduced to bad/scary/not nice things and I hate it!

All I can do is love him, pray for him and keep teaching him things at home that will hopefully help him when he ends up in those awful situations, because he will end up in those awful situations.

I hate that my baby boy had to grow up so quickly and that at such a young age he has to be "thrown into the world"

I Love you baby boy! I'm so proud of you and the smart, sweet, helpful, funny boy you are! You are such a wonderful brother and friend. You are so sensitive and worried about others being included and how other people are feeling. You are going to ROCK Kindergarten! As hard as it is for me to let you go I know you are going to have so much fun! You are going to make lots of new friends and learn lots of new things. Always remember I'm here for you and how much I love you!