Pretending

Yesterday I had to give Jake a consequence for something he did.  What do you take away from an 18-year-old?  Not toys!  But wait, 18 year old’s do have toys.  They are called iPods.  The iPod was mine for 24 hours.  What a clever mother I am.  Fast forward to this morning.  “Mom, may I have my iPod back?”asked Jake.  “No Jake” I replied sweetly.  “I want you to think about what you did” I replied firmly.  Jake humphed down to the basement to listen to his MP3 player.  “No MP3 either.  It is just like an iPod” I replied hastily.  This all happened before he got on the bus at 6:39 AM.  On the way out the door I saw him put something in his pocket.  “Jake, you are NOT taking that MP3 player on the bus” I shrilly said.  “Mom, I only have my headset.  I am just going to pretend on the bus” Jake replied.  My heart was pierced through.  He wanted to look like everyone else on the bus even if it meant just having the headphones in.  How often have my kids with DS pretended to read, write, or_________fill in the blank so they will look like everyone else?  I get it.  They want to belong.  Let’s take it one step more.  How often have we pretended to understand an explanation from a doctor, plumber,________________fill in the blank so we look like we understand.  For that matter how often have we dressed a certain way or done something to pretend we were like everyone else?  An epiphany, pretending is a life skill and a social skill.  We all pretend.  Thanks for teaching me another life lesson Jake.                                        

You still don’t get that iPod back……yet.

Mental note to self.  “Learn how to use quotations.”  Drag out my book on punctuation!!!!!!!!!!!!!