Life is Change, and Life is Good
Aug. 13th, 2012 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
The boy is back home from summer camp, and he's brought back some interesting vocabulary, mannerisms, and questions. I'm trying not to be too strict for now, but whenever it comes up, I nonetheless make clear that he's being inappropriate.
As for me, now that he's back home, I'm spending more time at home, too. I'm happy to see him and to have him home, but it does mean dialing back, for a little while, on some of the things that have made this the best summer of my adult life. But life is about change, and his being here is also part of dialing those things back up for good.
As for me, now that he's back home, I'm spending more time at home, too. I'm happy to see him and to have him home, but it does mean dialing back, for a little while, on some of the things that have made this the best summer of my adult life. But life is about change, and his being here is also part of dialing those things back up for good.
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Date: 2012-08-13 10:17 pm (UTC)I will impose and enforce boundaries, and I expect to be calm and rational about it most of the time, but I worry. Not because saying certain words is "bad" in some inherent sense, but because he lacks perspective and context to understand what various words and acts are, what they mean and entail. And I see in that the possibility that someone will get hurt, possibly (but not necessarily) him.
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Date: 2012-08-14 01:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-14 03:19 pm (UTC)I try to impress on him the need to respect others' space, including their bodies, and I'm confident that he doesn't want to hurt anyone—and would in fact try hard not to hurt anyone—but kids his age are often not so good about boundaries to begin with. I worry that one of his peers will talk him into something he knows he shouldn't do. I worry that he'll get caught up in a culture that often underreacts to adults' assaults and tries to compensate by overreacting to kids' mistakes. I worry that, no matter what he intends, he may nonetheless hurt someone.
Basically, I worry. That's what parents do.