Wednesday, January 29, 2014

"I'm healing"

To quote Julia when I asked her how her face/bruise was.

On Sunday evening, post dinner, Julia was upset about something & started slamming the hallway door.
Our doors are old so it wouldn't take much for them to break. I was in the kitchen, Jai was closer & gets to her first & grabs the door. Then I hear crying. Julia runs to me & I see a HUGE lump on her cheek, already a serious looking bruise! I am slightly worried that Jai might have snapped & ask "what happened" - he says the door stopped when he grabbed it, but Julia kept coming. "Door knob should have been at her waist" I said ... Jai replied with "our waist, not hers!" DUH! She's shorter than us! : )

We ice it & all seems OK ... of course it gets better - you know life with children is rarely boring!

On Monday morning AND afternoon I get phone calls from Julia's teacher & school counselor. Julia told her teachers that "her dad slammed her into the door knob." Luckily her teacher knows us well & wondered if there was more to this story so she called me. Maybe a little bit of professional courtesy, same with school counselor, but I would have completely understood if they'd made a DCS report. I've been in that situation - not sure what's truth, possible exaggeration or a child's perspective. It's not a fun place to be, but child's safety is paramount, more important than my pride or inconvenience as an employee & parent.

Jai's post yesterday speaks to some of Julia's emotional range. I have copies of Kelso's Choice, a conflict resolution program MNPS elementary school counselors present to students. Julia brought home materials in December so she is familiar with the language. I need to ask her school counselor to talk with her, someone different than us, to discuss her feelings & how to deal with anger & frustrations appropriately.

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