Day 2 of the extra nicenesses...

The most extra nice thing that happened to me today was going out to dinner with Brian's parents. It's always nice to spend time visiting with them, and any time I don't have to cook dinner is a special treat. Jake was quite disappointed that we got home too late for him to give me a foot soak and massage tonight, but I quickly reassured him that we would make time for it tomorrow. Gives us both something to look forward to...

An unexpected side effect of this "be extra nice to Mom" mentality in my children is how they are using it to guilt each other into good behavior... i.e. not tattling to me on each other. I actually overheard Evie whispering frantically at Lila this afternoon, "No! Don't tell mom! She doesn't like it when we tattle and you want her to have a good Mom's day don't you? Lila! Do you or don't you want mommy to have a good Mommy's Day!?"  I had to work hard to suppress a grin before they got down the hall. I am torn because I really do hate tattling. I feel that unless blood is being spilled or bodies are being harmed, children benefit greatly from learning how to work through problems and make compromises. But I also really dislike hearing them use guilt to manipulate others. Hmmm... tricky. Very tricky.

Now back to Jacob. Today when I picked him up from school he slowly moped his way into the car and said, "Hi Mom." with a great big sigh...

"What's wrong?"

"I am so depressed."

"What? Why?"

"I just feel like my life as I know it is almost over! It's only eighteen days to my birthday and then I have to be eight. I have all these new responsibilities coming and it's... it's... it just feels like I have to start a whole new life!"

"What responsibilities?"

"Like Cub Scouts. Getting baptized. The age of accountability! It's just a lot to deal with..."

My poor little man, so plagued by conscientiousness. We were able to have a good conversation about the new privileges that come with new responsibilities. I think I was able to convince him that his childhood will not end when he turns eight and takes on the next stage of his life. Hopefully he will at least not be depressed anymore by the inevitability of aging and birthdays. I guess I could always point out that having another birthday is better than the alternative...