Monday, September 8, 2014

Stacy's Mom

When I sat down to write this post this morning it was going to be one of those "NT Parents say the dumbest things" type post. But it is not

I had a very tough morning with Jack yesterday. I was taking the kids to McDonalds and then to the park to give mom a little rest. The 4 year-old decided it was a good idea to get up at 345... and we were all feeling it. Julie had bargained with me a free afternoon of football if I took the kids off her hands for an hour or two... pretty good deal.

Except Jack wasn't having it. We made it to the drive-thru and got our breakfast, but then Jack was sent home to his room. Not listening, hitting his sister, using bad language, being surly in general. So, Jack was unceremoniously thrown into his room for the morning and I took Jade to the park (as promised).

The playground is crowded for a Sunday morning at 9, but there are several picnic benches open and Jade and I sit and have our breakfast. She brought 4 of her ponies, and they joined us for McMuffins and coffee. It was nice.

Jade asked if she could go to the playground since she was finished eating and I said sure.

I stayed at the picnic table and watched her run off. 

***

The tough part about going to the park with a kid for any parent is what to do with yourself. Do I want to go talk to the other moms? Nah, they seem to be in their own clique. Should I go join the Dads (there were a surprising number there)? Nah, they were all on their smart phones. Should I join the Helicopter parents on the playground? Nah. Jade was enjoying herself.

So, I resisted the urge to pull out my phone and instead just sat quietly with my coffee and watched...

And Thought.

***

Thought can be a dangerous playmate.

***

I watched as a little girl maybe 6 or 7 came up to Jade and asked if she could play with her. Jade (4) beamed and said sure and handed her one of the ponies, Pinkie Pie, which is her favorite. I smiled to myself and got up to go tell Jade things like "Tell her your name and ask her hers" "Make sure you share" "If she wants to play a different game, give it a try" etc. 

I stopped and sat back down because I heard "My name is Jade. What is your name?" "I'm Stacy" "This is Pinkie Pie" "I know who Pinkie Pie is" "She's my favorite" "My favorite is Rainbow Dash" "Let's pretend they are going to school" "Okay"

This interaction needed no supervision, or guidance, or involvement. 

And I watched my little girl organically interact with her peers. 

***

And I was sad. Sad because Jack does not have that ability. I wondered how he was doing at home. 

***

"10 minutes to go, Jade" I yelled out to her.

A lady stood next me and said Hello. I assume it was Stacy's mom as she was watching the girls play as well.

***

"How many more minutes, Dad"
"It's been 2, so what is 10 minus 2, Jade?"

Silence.

"4"

"No, Jade. Eight minutes left"

***

"How old is she?" asked Stacy's mom.
"She's 4"
"And she doesn't know 10-2? Is she in Pre-K yet?"
"She started last week"
"Really? Where? When Stacy was in Pre-K they were already doing multiplication"
"Good for her"
"Where does she go? She should be doing more academics than that. At blah-blah-blah academy they're already doing homework and writing"
"I don't care, ma'am"
"You don't care??? How can you not care about your daughter's future?"
"Ma'am... fuck off"

And Stacy's mom simply turned and left. She didn't gasp or sigh. She didn't give me the finger. She didn't even scoop up her child. She just walked away.

***

I wanted to tell her that she picked the wrong time to brag to me. I wanted to tell her that I was much more proud that Jade was playing and sharing and enjoying another child... which was much more important to me than multiplication tables. I wanted to tell her that my daughter is not stupid. I wanted to tell her that I was doing the best I could. I wanted to tell her that I came to this park to specifically spend time with my daughter since she gets so hosed for attention when Jack is around. I wanted to tell her that I love my daughter just as much as she loves hers.

But all that came to mind was "fuck off".

***

That was wrong of me. If I ever see her again, I'll apologize and say tell me more about blah-blah-blah academy. I'd love for Jade to play with Stacy again (she was a very sweet little girl). 

But, as is the case often, I was too busy worrying about Jack... and had little patience for her judgement. 

***

Parenting is tough work. When we are successful, we want to brag, and share, and pat ourselves on the back. When we struggle, we don't want to hear others that succeeded. We certainly don't want to be reminded of what we're doing wrong.

If Stacy's mom had simply said "look at her beautiful smile", we might have been friends. 

***

To all the parents that read this blog. I share a lot of our success stories here, I share a lot of our struggles as well. I never intend to imply that I am doing a better job than you (or worse). I share to inform, educate, entertain, and advocate about our journey.

As long as there is love, I will not judge yours.

6 comments:

  1. Forgive yourself for being human. ANd i bet it felt pretty good to say fuck off, in the moment. I love you.
    ~vj

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  2. I mean...was it rude? Yes. But honestly...fuck off. It is a rare gift for someone to weed herself out of the "potential friend" pool within the first 10 seconds of meeting her. You know you weren't compatible with her "Keep up with the joneses" mentality, and she did you the favor of making that apparent straight out of the gate. Lots of friendships drift apart or fail for whatever reason. This woman did you the courtesy of allowing you to end the friendship before you had an opportunity to lament it.

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  3. Sometimes you're just not in the mood. I made a meme one day that said, "Don't fucking blow your horn at me. I'm an autism mom! You have no idea how short my fuse is." or something like that.

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  4. I'm sorry, but I LOVE that you said that. I think it was perfect. I would have been more polite, but then when we got in the car and started back home I would have thought "I really should have told her to fuck off!"

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