It's 3:15pm. Elazar made a pinata today and he is whacking the bejeebers out of it. Whack, whack, whack.
When he's tired, he loses the ability to control his impulses. I think of it like the metaphor of a ball being held under water. If you let go of the ball, it pops up to the surface. Elazar's impulses are like that. All day long, he holds the ball under water and controls his impulses. When he is tired (which happens almost daily within 5 minutes after his bedtime), he often loses that ability and the metaphorical ball bounces up. He starts destroying things.
This morning, we were woken up very early by giggling. Lots and lots of giggling. Elazar and Jack were up playing. They laughed and played. I found Chutes and Ladders out afterwards. It was lovely.
The day devolved, though. Jack had numerous tantrums. Fortunately, hand in hand parenting has equipped me to deal with that. Then Elazar had 2 or 3 fairly intense episodes where he was frustrated and began screaming. Usually he can tolerate a pretty strong degree of frustration, and he usually doesn't get upset because he keeps figuring out a way to accomplish what he wants to achieve. But today he kept detonating. It was fine, I disciplined, listened, negotiated, etc. In the course of things, he did throw some chairs and other objects.
I'm not sure what time a first grader in yeshiva gets home these days, including bus. 3? 4? Would he be able to navigate the bus ride in such an inflammatory mood? Would he be able to sit in class? How would the poor teacher cope with him? How would he feel?
Some people maintain that it is important for a 6-year-old child's development to be able to hold himself together in class. Me, I'm just glad I'm homeschooling him.
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One time, when Natanel was having a particularly hard day, and I was at my wits' end, I ask him: what would happen if you were in school? He said, they would fire me.
ReplyDeleteOn another occasion, Shmuli summed up that were Natanel to be in school, he would explode.
We have been listening to Tom Sawyer, who is, presumably, an older kid ( 10? 12?), yet he has very hard time sticking with any studies despite his efforts. He sounds truer to a description of a real boy than a common yeshiva student.
I also think how many school kids seem like flat and obedient shadows. Maybe they held the ball underwater for so long that it drowned...
hehe, fire him!
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