He limped in the room, clearly upset. One moment ago he and his brother were playing (nicely!!) in the living room. In the blink of an eye he was crumpled and distraught.
“Mama, I don’t want to go to school tomorrow…”
He dove in to my bosom, sobbing.
“What is it Goose? What’s going on?”
Tomorrow is Tuesday and that means Gym Day. I don’t get it. He’s the most active kid I know. He loves every sport and is particularly good at them. He wakes in the morning asking if we recorded last night’s game. The minute we get home from school he asks if he and Daddy-O can throw the football. He's non-stop.
But he doesn’t like Gym.
He insists that nothing’s wrong. He just wants a day at home with Mama.
We get down on the floor and talk a bit and it becomes a little clearer; they play a lot of tag in gym (he’s SO outgrown tag) and he really doesn’t like running the obstacle course…
“You know Goose, there are a lot of things we don’t always like to do, but we have to do them anyway. I don’t like to have to do the dishes every day, but I have to or we'd get sick. I don’t always like to do the laundry, but then you’d be the stinky kid no one wants to play with. (tiny giggle) And you might not enjoy running the obstacle course, but you know what? It may not seem like it now, but it’s getting you conditioned to be an even better football player.”
“Really?” He perked up a bit.
“Of course! You know how you have to make quick decisions on which way to move your body? It's just like the Running Backs you’ve been reading about. They have to be able to move fast and change direction in a split second. If they weren't able to move so fast, they wouldn't be so important to the team.”
After reading another chapter of his Football library book with Daddy-O, he snuggled up and slept soundly.
This morning he woke with his usual excitement. Our little talk last night seemingly cleared the partly cloudy outlook he had forecast for today.
“Can we go to school yet Mama?”
“Soon Goose. Soon. Let's have some breakfast so you have lot's of energy for the day.”
"OK!"
This kid really is pure sunshine.
