And now?
After giving my child a proper talking-to the other day, he has finally understood that Mom isn’t always available. It was about time—he’s sixteen! So yesterday I told him: I’ll be at the doctor’s, please don’t keep calling me like you usually do. Only call if something’s wrong, okay?
He only called twelve times.
Unfortunately, he calls other people too—and if he can’t reach them, he tries even harder. I keep repeating that this is not how it’s done: if you can’t reach someone, you wait for them to call back, and after 7 p.m. you don’t call anyone except family—at most your very best friend. But since that very best friend specifically asked not to be called late because their family goes to bed early, and my dear son keeps ringing anyway, the friend often ends up blocking Kende. Then Kende comes to me to complain—again, for the two-hundred-and-twenty-sixth time. Every single time, I patiently explain: your friend blocked you because you kept calling even though he asked you not to… do you understand?
It’s the same with texting. If you don’t pick up the phone, he writes. If you don’t reply, he writes even more…
But luckily, the other day he finally understood that Mom isn’t always available. Since then, before addressing me, he now tacks onto the beginning of whatever he wants to say—like an indispensable accessory—a monotone, declarative, even commanding, rapid-fire phrase: “Are you free!” And then he launches into his monologue.
The kid is evolving! If I still don’t respond immediately—because I happen to be on the phone or talking to someone else—then, true to form, he gives me a little shove, just to be safe. But let’s not nitpick; let’s look at the bright side!
Still, on one such occasion, when he shouted “ARE YOU FREE!!!” at me, I shot him a sharp look—and he got it. He waited before starting again. There was silence. For about half a minute. I even felt a strange sense of lack: I only had to focus on one thing, the phone call I was in, and it was so unusual that it completely threw me off. Silence all around me, and Kende wasn’t asking anything. Startled by the unfamiliar situation, I began turning around on my axis—where is the child? Am I really alone in the space, able to concentrate on just one thing?
0 Comments