For crying out loud

Today my husband went back to work after a week of vacation. Have I mentioned my boys are VERY attached to their father? Let’s just say we don’t exactly have Mama’s boys in our house. “Dad, you’re my best friend. I love you SO much” is a chorus heard often around here, relegating me to chopped liver status.

Moving on. Rob went back to work, and I was prepared for some melancholy around the house, given past experiences. So I was not really surprised to see Mark sitting on the steps, staring forlornly at the back door, tears running down his face. “I wanted to wear my T-Rex shirt”, he sobbed, referring to the shirt his father bought him during last week’s trip to Drumheller, “but it’s in the wash”. I assured him I would do laundry right away, and he could wear it to school this afternoon, but I guess he just needed to cry, which he did for about fifteen loud minutes, after which he decided to get on with his life.

Meanwhile, Jake was playing with some dinosaurs and narrating, “You know why this dinosaur is sad, Mom? Mom? This dinosaur is sad because he can’t find his dad.” I started to look around for the hidden camera, feeling strangely like I was in a documentary entitled “Very Basic Child Psychology” or similar. After much dinosaur sadness, Jake just came undone. “Everything is boring and I don’t like today!” he announced, and then dissolved into a puddle of tears.

I don’t know about you, but I find mornings like this very trying.

It’s not like I want them to be robots with no emotions whatsoever, it’s not like I want them to repress their feelings, but at times I wish young children would have a wee bit more perspective. I gave myself an invisible medal for not snapping and saying “For God’s sake, he just went to work!”, and went about my day, playing Superheroes and Dinosaurs save the Farm Animals, and eventually the boys went back to being their usual cheery selves.

Who needs Mama’s boys, anyway?