After School

I had a really awesome moment with Josiah after school yesterday. I've learned to be very persistent with him in getting him to talk to me. So, when he came home yesterday It seemed to be a good time to talk about how school was going. I said "Come here, I want to talk to you" he ran away....I said "Come here, and sit by me", he ran away giggling...So I said it more firmly and eventually with a little more prodding, he acquiesced. After asking only one or two questions the tears started to flow. He had gotten in trouble a few times with the teacher and obviously felt really bad about it. I don't think I said anything he didn't already know, I mostly just listened and sympathized with him. Then I reassured him that I loved him and still thought he was a good kid. He seemed so relieved by that. It such an awesome thing to be able to make the world OK for him, even just for a moment. These are the moments where all the difficulties of parenting seem completely worth it. To me, this is where the reward is.