Don't go Changin'

Changes- Lots of Special Needs kids don’t do well with them.  My daughter, Princess, is no different. Right now there are a lot of changes going on in her little life. She moved classrooms, her 1:1 aide at church is on an extended vacation, her pubescent body is changing much to her chagrin…. The list goes on.

One major change is that my knight started back at school in July to become a PE teacher. It’s been a life long goal of his but for various reasons has not happened until now.  From ages 2-8 Princess knew me as the primary breadwinner. Her father was mostly a Stay-At-Home Dad. Our roles reversed to more traditional ones in 2013 when I resigned from teaching. It was a gradual change over time or so I thought.

In my mind I’m used to him being gone two nights a week. He’s also been busy working on projects on most weekends. On top of this, he’s substitute teaching as many as five days a week.  It's a lot for our kiddo to handle. 

If you know me, I’m a “go with a flow” type gal.  I thought Princess was doing well with these changes but then tonight she fessed up. She was dilly dallying before bedtime in hopes of staying up long enough to get a good night kiss from her daddy. She told me that she didn’t understand why her daddy has to become a teacher. She'd rather he stay home all of the time with her. If she had her way, both her father and I would be home all of the time.

Princess also told me that she didn’t understand why her dad had to be gone so much. I reminded her of the plan and told her that although we’d love for money to fall from the sky, it didn’t.  After our discussion, Princess picked up the pace under my watchful eye.  I said prayers with her, kissed her goodnight and tucked her in before my husband got home from his class. She still outsmarted me though, as she willed herself to stay awake until she got her second kiss; the one from her beloved daddy.

My husband and I will continue to teach Princess about changes in her life. It's a slow process but one day she'll do better with them even though she may never be a "go with the flow" person like her mother.