I Don't Want To Go To School!!

Keats said this about a dozen times today. He said it dozens of times in his last week or so out of school. He had no reason. He just kept saying "I don't want to go to school!"


Today was really bad. He kept hiding and refused to get dressed. He told me he didn't want a hug & kiss from his teacher. First he said that he didn't want a kiss because he's a boy; and boys don't like kisses. Then he said that he could only be hugged and kissed by people with the same skin color as him.


Whoa. I wasn't exactly ready to tackle race & racism before 8 am...but I did my best.


You see, the lovely Miss Aicha, his teacher, is from Morroco. She always looks like she has a most excellent tan. ;o) And this very same Miss Aicha gives Keaton a HUGE hug and a kiss each and every morning. She is always so happy to see him. Keaton just giggles and giggles during the morning greetings...so I really didn't know what to think of this sudden dislike for hugs & kisses. Not to mention the skin color thing.


I pointed out to Keats that he and I don't have exactly the same skin color. I showed him all my freckles and we held our arms next to each other. He pretty much immediately accepted the error in his thinking: Skin color doesn't matter.


About skipping class today, Mike had the wisdom to suggest we just wait it out and let Keaton decide when he was ready to go. We told Keats he had to stay in his room, with no toys. because staying home from school only happens when you're sick. But we let him know he could tell us if/when he was ready to go.


Sully and I took off to run some errands. The best thing we did was to get a membership at the local children's museum. Since we were there, and the sun is shining, I let Sully run around for a while.


When I called Mike to see how things were going at home he said that Keaton had dressed himself, eaten lunch, and said he was now ready to go to school.

And he was.

I drove up, handed Sully to Mike, then took Keats to school.

So here's how it went down: when Keaton walked into his classroom, Miss Aicha was thrilled to see him and IMMEDIATELY said "Keaton!! Come give me a hug!!" And you know what? Keaton marched right over to her and gave her the tightest, longest hug ever. He had his head buried in her neck the whole time. She let go a couple of times but he held on. This went on for like a solid minute. No joke.

He missed her. And he didn't know what to do with that excitement of missing her and so he built it up into something negative when that hug & kiss was exactly what he wanted.

How sweet is that?