Protecting My Sensitive Child

There are many difficult things about being a parent.  Watching your child suffer while feeling powerless to stop it ranks up there.  William has always had it rough.  Rough compared to his siblings, rough compared to his friends, and rough, in general. 

He lives in a house with an older brother who is naturally good at everything, a little brother who is stronger and faster than him, and a little sister who believes (quite correctly) that she is in charge of the whole Parker show.  Meanwhile, William is socially awkward, struggles with ADHD, has bad vision, and just can’t quite find his place in the world.  Having said that, he’s a pretty awesome kid with lots of awesome thoughts.  But, all too often, the other stuff overshadows that. 

Way too many of his days lately have gone like this.  Lizzie complains about absolutely everything that he does.  He breathes wrong.  He looks at her wrong.  He thinks wrong.  She’s relentless.  And, yes, I am redirecting this.  But, I haven’t found a brilliant way to make her stop yet.  And, of course, moments after she gives him a hard time, they are playing together.  Because she’s 6 and isn’t really trying to hurt him.  She’s just figuring out her way.  But, still, it does hurt him.  So, such is life.  Then, Kaleb accuses him of things.  And, it won’t matter if he didn’t do it.  His previous lies continue to haunt him.  Most recently, he was trying to figure out how Frank the pug got out of his room.  William said that he didn’t let him out.  Well, William was the only one who could have let him out.  Ignoring the obvious question of who cares who let Frank out, the conversation continued because we all assume that William is lying.  It’s a hard habit to break.  Kaleb gets frustrated, William gets defensive and deflated.  And, I just wish that we could all get along.  Sometimes I think that William doesn’t always remember what he does or doesn’t do.  (That’s scary on a different level.)  I have come to this brilliant conclusion because that’s what he told me.  I asked him, later, about Frank.  I told him that it really didn’t matter and he wasn’t in trouble, I just didn’t want him to lie about it.  He quietly said that he didn’t remember.  And, I believe that.  I can’t always remember why I walk into a room.  I told him just to say that from now on.  I later explained this to Kaleb.  This paired with the story that I’m about to tell you seems to have made an impact.  Because Kaleb has been making an effort to be patient ever since.  Kaleb, if you’re reading this, thank you.  And, please don’t stop because I pointed it out. 😉   

Anyway, because of his stress level and his unhealthy habit of internalizing everything, when I legitimately redirect something that he really shouldn’t be doing, he gets really upset and gives me an attitude.  Then I give him a hard time for giving me an attitude.  This is reasonable, but solves nothing.  The other night after I called him on giving me a tone, he said with desperate frustration in his voice, “I’m sorry, it’s just that Lizzie keeps yelling at me for everything.”

I looked at my son and I could just see him crumbling inside.  And, it broke my heart. 

So, not long after that, I finally got William, Antwan, and Lizzie to bed.  I had let them stay up later than normal and instead of being tired, they were fairly wired.  But, I did get them to bed and since they were all having a sleep-over in one room, it didn’t stay quiet for long.  

That’s when I tried to do the most challenging thing that a mom can do.  I tried to go to the bathroom.  I will never understand how so many interesting or terrible things can happen when I try to take a moment.  So, really, I blame myself for what happened next.

It was just moments after I entered my sanctuary before I hear yelling and the dreaded “I’m going to tell Mom!”  Then Lizzie was outside the bathroom door saying “William jumped on my head!!”  Followed by an exhausted and desperate – “No, I didn’t!” from William.

For the love of God!

I came racing out and launched into a lecture. 

I told them that at some point, they had to stop attacking William and start looking out for him.  He is their brother and, no, he is not perfect and, yes, he has made mistakes, but he is their brother. 

I used expressions like “he is all messed up and he needs you” that I don’t normally use in these situations, but I thought might make more sense to Lizzie.

“At some point, you have got to start to taking care of William and stop attacking him.”

“William can’t possibly be wrong all the time about everything.  He can’t take everyone coming after him.  He has issues! 

(To Kaleb) “I am glad that you handle your past so well.”

(To Lizzie) “I am so happy that you don’t have the bad memories that William and Kaleb do because you were a baby when you came to us.”

“But, William isn’t handling it as well.  I know what’s going through his head.  I know what he says in counseling! (I quickly added that I didn’t know everything so that he wouldn’t stop talking to his counseling.) He needs us to support him, not tear him down! 

Antwan (who is never mean to William) said “Yes, ma’am” several times while Lizzie tried to glare at him through my face blocking hand.  She eventually stopped.

I continued some more, trying to explain that it wasn’t ok to accuse him of everything.  Yes, he has lied in the past, yes, he has made bad choices, but he can’t take this.  Etc, Etc.

I felt very empowered and fueled by my passion on this topic.  And I knew that William was relieved that someone saw it and when I periodically paused and asked “Am I right?” he would quickly agree.

I continued talking until Antwan looked up to say something.  I paused to hear what supportive comment he was going to make (he is our peacemaker, after all) and he said…

“This is a really long lecture.”

I tried to stay composed, but I couldn’t.  I laughed, instead.  Then, we all laughed.  We laughed a lot.

“Darn it, Antwan!  I was on a roll.” 🙂

So, that was that.  My lecture was apparently over and it’s hard to say if it did any good.  But, at least, William knows that I support him.  And, at least, we were all laughing together.  So, there was that.  Laughter is the best medicine, after all. 🙂