Rosebud was home from Kindergarten this afternoon, following a visit to the school nurse’s office and what appeared to be a successful but largely overly hyped complaint about a case of the sniffles.
Not to admit to being parents who cave, but after a short but tedious chunk of time at home in which the overly hyped complaints continued, we found ourselves looking for the iPad so that Daddy could work (I thought about immediately reporting to the Yahoo offices, whose CEO has just banned telecommuting, just to get away from the complaining, but then came face to face with the stark disappointment that I don’t work for Yahoo).
At some point, amid the frustration of not being able to find the iPad — to discover later that Elizabeth had “forgotten” that she had had it — I apparently uttered something like, “…Because I have freaking work to do!”
Rosebud looked up and said: “Why do you always say ‘freaking’ when you’re mad?”
Well, I thought, because I can’t use the words that I really want to use, but what I said was, “Because it makes me feel less mad.”
She looked at me like that was really stupid.
“I usually just let all the mads out,” she said.
Well, how do you do that?
“By telling what I feel like and yelling it,” she said, “because that helps my temper go down….down…down….down.”
Easy as pie. No need for lifelong sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy at $125 an hour (So, tell me, how did that make you feel? So, tell me, how did feeling like that make you feel? Is that working for you, or do you think you should take another approach?)
Nope. Just tell what you feel like and yell it.
Done.
I wish I taught her that, but I’m pretty sure she taught me. Miss you guys! Dole out hugs from me.