Singing Out the Blues by RuthAnne
RuthAnne Schedler
Something new happened this morning during the usual routine. It wasn’t something new that I “tried.” I didn’t “figure it out.” It just happened.
And… the something new wasn’t in the boys’ behavior. At least, not at first.
Brennen didn’t want to go to school. Of course! And Ryan wanted a promise that he could play on the computer after school. Of course! Brennen didn’t get enough to eat. Of course! Ryan wouldn’t finish the food he had. Of course! Neither one put on their shoes when I asked (oh so nicely). Of course!
So, I started to sing. Yep. A song just popped into my head and out of my mouth. It was a bluesy song that I belted out loud.
“Brennen doesn’t want to go to sch-o-o-l,
and Ryan just wants to pl-a-y!
No one is happy with their f-o-o-d
And Mama’s done lost her cool.
Oh we got the blu-e-s…
The don’t-want-to-go-to-school blues.”
We all laughed so hard. We ate. We put on our shoes. We all got in the car and headed off to school. We were a few minutes late, but we all felt good.
Awake Enough to Notice by Rolf
Rolf Evenson
I love this story. No parenting technique, strategy or plan could possibly have come up with such a creative solution! Your busting into song was completely inspired and a perfect example of how EVERY human being has an innate capacity for insight, for fresh ideas, for perfect solutions.
(Had your song been part of a “parenting program” it would have been a “happy” song, not the blues! Yet that morning for you and your boys, the blues was pure genius.)
So here’s what I think happened. You sensed the mood sliding down hill. You were AWAKE enough to NOTICE and to recognize that you had a CHOICE. You could join the downward spiral or not!
And that moment of AWARENESS created just enough space for that blues song idea to sneak through the door of your consciousness. And because you were awake to it, you decided to jump in with both feet.
And the “happy place” in your boys responded to the “happy place” in you, and together you literally turned pain into joy.
