Tonight was a good night.
Mar. 24th, 2009 07:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janradderThere are many times that I wish I had a different relationship with my older son. Both of us are very similar in our personalities, and this often leads to strife. Like me, he is as stubborn as a Dutchman's dike, unwilling to yield even a fraction of space to the sea that pounds continuously against us, whether that sea be literal or imaginary. It can be a good character trait at times, but not when you're trying to build a relationship with someone. As a result, I've worked very hard at being more pliant and mutable, but I'm not always that way, and the two of us frequently butt heads as our opposing views and wishes clash.
Tonight, though, was different.
Yesterday was Arie's birthday and my mother gave him a working model robot kit to assemble. He's only assembled simple models before and never from instructions, and even if he had, this model is a little too hard for him to do completely on his own, without any guidance. So, as we ate dinner, he asked me if I would help him put it together when we were done eating.
"Sure," I said.
When we'd cleaned off the table, we collected all our tools, and then set down with the instructions. I showed Arie how to find the right parts and taught him how to use the diagonal cutters to snip the parts off the plastic tree they came attached to. I helped him figure out the diagrams. And, more importantly, the two of us sat together, calmly, as we worked on his robot, enjoying each other's companionship. This, I thought, is what I imagined parenting would be like, and I drank it up as if it were the most delicious nectar in the world. Which it was.
Tonight, though, was different.
Yesterday was Arie's birthday and my mother gave him a working model robot kit to assemble. He's only assembled simple models before and never from instructions, and even if he had, this model is a little too hard for him to do completely on his own, without any guidance. So, as we ate dinner, he asked me if I would help him put it together when we were done eating.
"Sure," I said.
When we'd cleaned off the table, we collected all our tools, and then set down with the instructions. I showed Arie how to find the right parts and taught him how to use the diagonal cutters to snip the parts off the plastic tree they came attached to. I helped him figure out the diagrams. And, more importantly, the two of us sat together, calmly, as we worked on his robot, enjoying each other's companionship. This, I thought, is what I imagined parenting would be like, and I drank it up as if it were the most delicious nectar in the world. Which it was.
