Son-ipulated

Most people don't give children as much credit as they deserve for being witty, thoughtful and manipulative. When they throw fits or act as though their world is crumbling, these "acts" are simply their way of manipulating us to get what they want. A lot of parents/adults get it, but then, a LOOOTTT don't. They believe they just have a little booger on their hands.

My husband and I learned early on that our son was gonna be a super manipulator. You could just see it in his eyes. His actions always followed some careful thinking, as were his words. It doesn't take an intuitive person to see the wheels spinning in his head continuously. Now we knew that all kids were at some level master manipulators. However, as our child began to develop his intellectual skills we could see he would be quite gifted. Which while we were thrilled, we also realized we would have to become crafty and ever alert to his up coming "persuasions".

As he's grown, we have done well for ourselves, seeing the potential scenarios and calling them out as/before/right after they happened. Basically being able to stay on top of things. One thing we forgot to consider is making "outsiders" aware of his ability. Of course the grandparents were acutely aware of his skills and still are aware.. but no where near the extent that we are.

When we put him in preschool last year, they picked up really quick that he was gifted and so I had a lengthy talk with his teacher. Going over a few ins and outs about his behaviour and such. Any problems were fixed then and there. So, since he did very well in preschool with socializing and such we were geared and ready for Kindergarten. At the first parent teacher conference, the "get to know you" one.. I went over all this again with his teacher. Since he has LOVED school since day one, today's episode came as a shock.

So I get up this morning and proceed to get him out of bed, only today he had gotten up and was watching tv before I went in. So I said "good morning sunshine! Go on and get in the shower!" Upon which, he starts whining about not wanting to go to school because he will MISS. HIS. SHOW! Too bad I say, go on and get ready. We get all ready and head out. Drop off, kisses, have a good day and I love you's per usual. It came as a surprise when I hear my husband come bounding up the stairs at 11:30 and I say, "what are you doing here?" He says, "bringing your sick child home". At that very moment, I smelled manipulation in the air. He, proceeds to tell me that the school called home and my cell phone to no avail and that our child was throwing up and running a fever. Still, I was hesitant to believe. Even more so when the little one comes bouncing up the stairs to greet me. I said "well he sure doesn't act sick, do tell how this all went down". So my child meanders over to me and says "we had bbq sandwiches today and when I took a bite I threw up, but I can't remember what else we had." Hmmm.. ok, sure. Lunchtime comes and they are given two choices of what to eat. Not knowing what was for lunch is SO NOT like him. This is normally the first thing he shares when I pick him up.. "today we had corn dogs or hamburgers for lunch, and I had corndogs!" So my hubby and I speculated that the other choice was something he would have eaten, because well, bbq just looks to yucky to eat. Not to mention the fact that we have a picky eater on our hands.


I sit with A and tell him that he should thank daddy for bringing him home because I wouldn't have. I say that I know he isn't sick but rather pulling his "fake puke" episode to get what he wants. I explain also to the husband that the fever is easily explained as he was in a sweater in a heated building and coughing, so he was obviously HOT. The temperature he supposedly had was only 100.8. Working in childcare for a few years I know that parents usually aren't called in unless the temp is over 101.

My husband admitted that he suspected something was up when A's attitude seemed to change immediately leaving the doors of the school building behind. We got a laugh at it later, a laugh that also carries one of those nervous tones to it. One of those laughs that say under its breath that we've only just begun. The kind that says to you, if I can't go through you, I'll go around you, be warned. Yeah, one of those.

On the upside of this, I did get to steal my husband away from work for a little over an hour. Work is still winning however, work 71: home 12.. hours that is, waking hours. AND its only Friday. And since we're keeping score. A-1, School-0.