Thursday, January 19, 2006

Ashamed...

Tuesday night, Maya brought home a bunch of math homework. She hates math homework. I hate the barrier she puts up around her math homework, where she makes things so much more difficult than they need to be. She's pretty good with the rest of her homework, but math, she simply does not want to do. She's actually good at math, too, which makes it even more confusing for me that she dislikes doing the work so much. I was always good at it, and I liked it because I liked being good at it.

So she was adding fractions, looking for the lowest common denomonator, and she decided she was only going to do one page. I wanted her to do all 4 pages, but decided that 2 pages would be a good compromise, since she didn't have to turn them ALL in today. She did one page, and stopped. I tried to help her, to show her how easy it can be, but she didn't want to do it. She just sat and looked at me with this look that said, "You can't make me. I am NOT doing any more homework tonight." Let me just say, if there is one thing I hate more than homework, and the knowledge that she won't be free from its grasp until she graduates from college, it's that look on her face. I felt a RAGE building up inside me. I was SO angry, I wanted to rip her workbook into pieces and have her eat them, and then let her explain to her teachers that the work would soon be coming out in the form of shit. SO MAD. So I picked up her workbook, so that I could slam it shut and say something mean like, "FINE, DON'T DO YOUR WORK, I DON'T WANT TO HELP YOU ANYMORE!!!", which is bad enough, but instead I picked up the workbook and THREW IT against the wall. She was scared. I could see it in her face. I didn't care. I was still mad. I don't even know what we said to each other after that, but soon she was crying, and I felt like a complete and utter turd. Boy, I suck. So I asked her if we could make up. We kissed, and she climbed into my lap, and we cuddled a bit. I told her I was ashamed that I had scared her. She told me she had been afraid that I would hit her. I told her the story about the time my mom was so mad at my brother and me that she wanted to pound us into the ground, and she took a jump rope outside and beat the side of the house with it, like someone flogging a carpet to get the dirt out, until her anger had dissapated. I remember that we felt like we had better well do whatever she had asked, and not get in her way any more THAT day. So I told Maya, if I ever got so mad that I wanted to hit her, I would just take a rope and hit the house, and she doesn't have to worry. We cuddled some more. Then she did her homework.

My anger scared me, though. How could I be THAT mad at my little baby? Look at that face! (I know, this is 7 years ago, but she is still my baby..)

8 comments:

Autumn's Mom said...

Oh Julie. Life would be so much easier if they just did what we wanted like little robots instead of asserting themselves like darn little people. ugh. We want sooo much for them and yet they seem to be our biggest obsticle. I am very hot headed as you know and know all to well what it feels like to be a turd. So I shall sit here with you today and stink!

L. said...

Wow. Sounds like OUR house! You have my sympathy -- actually, you have EMpathy. I can`t help my kids without screaming unless I drink half a bottle of wine before we start.

Cherry said...

I know you felt like a turd. But look at how you recovered. You talked to her, made sure she felt loved, and explained how you felt and told her about a similar experience you had been in so you shared her fear. She even talked to you about her feelings of being scared. That says so much about how well you parent. You do a wonderful job with Maya.

Now go buy her more clothes.

J said...

Cherry, you crack me up! After reading my post, and Dots, I'll bet you're off the idea of kids for awhile!

Anonymous said...

Gutsy blog.. Many of us parents at some time or another have had moments of rage or anger with their children, which triggered a reaction that we wish it hadn't.

Not many are so introspectively honest

The tale of your mother and the jump rope was a nice touch.

Now go do what Cherry says

Cherry said...

I used to babysit Autumn when I was trying to curb the baby lust. but it stopped working years ago.

It doesn't matter what stories all of you tell, I'm not backing down on my desire to be a parent.

Andrea said...

sounds like my dad and my brother. Boy were those two at odds over doing homework. My brother now regrets not listening to his dad thugh.
As for me, math sucks and there is nothing easy about it. AUGH! MY extremely low math level actually embarasses my husband.

L just wrote about you so I decided to say hi.
HI!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Cherry. Julie, you did good and I'm proud of you. No parent is perfect; it's how we recover from imperfection that tells the tale.