I Hate

Today was a day of "I hate..." for Lucas. Sigh. I suspect some of the upset comes with the shift back to school after fall break but, mostly, it is the absence of Dad.

We slept-in this morning so no homework was accomplished before school. I warned Lucas that meant we would have to tackle it later in the day which we know from previous weeks is not ideal. He said "no problem", but come 4 p.m. he was not impressed.

I hate homework! I hate printing! I hate rainbow words!

Then, I allowed an extra pbs show tonight knowing he was on edge (and as a reward because despite the protests, he did finish his homework). Even though I gave lots of warning that after Dinosaur Train we would brush teeth and head straight to bed, he still protested loudly.

Finally, I cuddled up close in his bed and asked him if he had a hard day. Sure enough, all his bus troubles came pouring out. One kid made the sound he hates, the other kid tried to throw his lunch out the window and he hates the bus.

After talking it through, I think he felt a bit better. In each case on the bus, he asked the driver for help and got the kids moved away from him - way to quickly solve the problem and not just take it! After talking, he was still kind of mad, but less the victim. We role-played what he might say to these kids in future.

I can tell that his high emotion is valid, but there is a lot of melodrama surrounding it for him. He surely did have a hard day, but most of what he's going through stems from his deep sadness about Craig's return to Ireland on Monday. Thankfully, in a few more weeks, we should be able to put that behind us and re-establish our family unit. I think that, more than anything, will cure Lucas of his "I hate".