This morning I awoke to the mellifluous sounds of Kit and Buddy shouting over a shirt that was inappropriate for school. Kit insisted he didn’t have another one. Buddy, rather than argue that point as he might have done in the past, simply told him to remove it or take consequences tonight - period. I got up a half hour later and the offending garment was on the kitchen table. Score one for Buddy had- he held his ground. Usually Kit could run Buddy ragged on this kind of thing and get away with it. That didn’t happen. Dad didn’t take the bait and Kit did as he was told. That’s a big step and worthy of note.
The fact that it took a screaming half an hour is another story. I didn’t get my usual 4 hours of sleep before the kids get ready for school today because I had a bone marrow extraction scheduled and listening to a screeching fight at 7 a.m. was not an upbeat way to start a tense and sure to be painful day. My usual response to Kit for such behavior would be to an early bedtime, no Facebook, not going to a dance, or some such punishment designed to make him think twice the next time he and dad go at it. But I decided to stay out of it. As I posted yesterday, since I’ll be taking a back seat for the next few months, they need to start sorting things for themselves. Noisy as it was, this was a start in the right direction.
What I did say early this evening was that we need every ounce of positive energy to get through this illness and it would be a huge help if he could put the arguing aside and cooperate a bit more - even if he believed he was in the right.
I’m asking him for help, for a favor, during tough times, just as I have of Tio. I hope they can step up to the task.