Stop the Bus

The L's are stressed. Super Stressed...... I don't know quite what to tell the kids. It's one thing for me to be stressed and reactive, but M and the kids are the dots of glue that hold me together. If they are breathing hard, you can imagine my state of mind.

S is stressed about math for one thing. We've tried a bunch of things to help her out. It's almost all anxiety. She has so much math fear and anxiety that the least little sign of trouble shuts her down. She has trouble with simple addition and subtraction. As a 3rd grader moving on to more difficult concepts, her struggles are disconcerting to her and to me. M spent an hour with her tonight working with her on her worksheet tonight. Her eyes became glazed, her ears buzzed, and her anxiety grew. My solution to everything is practice, but of course she doesn't want to hear that.

It didn't help her situation that she was late to soccer practice this afternoon. She spent the afterschool time with her friend working on a poster for school and thought to zip home quickly for soccer gear. Her shin guards went missing so her friend left for practice without her as I suggested and she freaked out. Certainly didn't want to hear from mom, "Why don't you put your stuff away so you can find it when you need it?"

C had a rescheduled soccer game this afternoon across town. She came home crying. Her team lost. The crying was about more than the loss and not playing the defensive position she prefers. She reassured me that no one on her team was mean to her. She just said that her whole body hurt, she was tired, she hates losing, and didn't feel good. I offered to let her stay home tomorrow for a break, but she refused. She's my trooper! Play practice tomorrow morning and a track meet after school. I'm hoping she's not overextended and isn't setting herself up for a crash and burn.

Notice I didn't mention my sons. I haven't given up on Z.... I constantly remind myself to take a chill pill. I don't know what to do about him. His soul focus recently has been how he's going to celebrate his 12th b'day this weekend and how not to do anything until after I've asked him to do something at least three times. A is on constant BM watch. Let's not mention homework for either of them, chores, T.V. and computer time, or hygiene.