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Yesterday my son had a bad day at school to the point of being expelled for a day. I can't help but wonder if it was partially my fault. The day before my poor sleep patterns were catching up to me and it was showing up as irritability and negativity on my part in front of, and towards the kids. It was nothing blatant or abusive, just a negativity that the kids (in particular my daughter) called me on.
My son being very sensitive to this type of thing seemed to take on this negativity the next day. Without getting into details, it ended him up in serious enough trouble to get him expelled from school for a day. It just so happed that this is the same day that we had been planning to go to the dojo to train. My first instincts were to not take him as he was being so negative about everything that he wouldn't listen to what I was trying to show him. After some thought though I decided to take him so that it didn't seem like I was giving up on him. If I was having trouble keeping him on track I was just going to stop and give him the option of continuing or going home. As it turned out he stayed very focused and we had a good training session. Afterwards I noticed his negativity was gone, and his tense (more manic) demeanor was more relaxed.
It was then I knew that these training sessions are exactly what we need on a regular basis. There was something about helping calm and center my son that was equally calming and centering for myself. I have said in the past that Aikido has helped a great deal with the relationship with my son. Last night was something extra though. Even though he didn't realize it, he taught me something about the connection between the two of us and how important it is for us to continue to study Aikido together.
My daughter had also been looking forward to coming to train at the dojo with me, but didn't, thinking that my sons attitude would ruin the experience. I plan on making our trips to the dojo more frequent. I hope that my daughter decides to come next time. I beleive it will be just as benificial to our relationship.
02-21-2004 02:07 AM 