On children and clothing.
I admit to a deep ambivalence about this particular subject. The other day Nate refused to wear his jeans with kitty-cat knee patches on them, because someone at school had made fun of him because of them. Or made fun of them. Same difference.
He'll still wear them on weekends.
So I made a flat cap (ostensibly for myself), and I finished it incorrectly by accident. I screwed up the fulling of it as well, so that it is now too small with too big of a hatband. Darn, and pooey, and arrgh. But Nate said 'Hey, mom, neat hat!' I said 'Would you like it?' He said 'yes', so I made the circumference smaller and gave it to him. He happily went off to school with it on his head. But here's the thing: I KNOW it'll look funny to some kids, and some of them might well pick on him. But he's so proud of that hat, because I made it for him. It breaks your heart, it does - do I keep him from taking it to school because someone might pick on him for it? Do I send him off with no preparation? What should I do? I vividly remember getting picked on for wearing different clothes, and yet I kept doing it. I still do it. I still get picked on from time to time, mostly by my boss who I ignore.
How do I teach Nate to deal with this? It took me 30 years to be able to deal with it.
He'll still wear them on weekends.
So I made a flat cap (ostensibly for myself), and I finished it incorrectly by accident. I screwed up the fulling of it as well, so that it is now too small with too big of a hatband. Darn, and pooey, and arrgh. But Nate said 'Hey, mom, neat hat!' I said 'Would you like it?' He said 'yes', so I made the circumference smaller and gave it to him. He happily went off to school with it on his head. But here's the thing: I KNOW it'll look funny to some kids, and some of them might well pick on him. But he's so proud of that hat, because I made it for him. It breaks your heart, it does - do I keep him from taking it to school because someone might pick on him for it? Do I send him off with no preparation? What should I do? I vividly remember getting picked on for wearing different clothes, and yet I kept doing it. I still do it. I still get picked on from time to time, mostly by my boss who I ignore.
How do I teach Nate to deal with this? It took me 30 years to be able to deal with it.