Friday, March 27, 2009

The Screamer

The Screamer: noun. The child among a larger group that typically screams hysterically when left in the care of another, regardless of how long or short they are in that care.

Before I had children, I worked for a summer at a daycare. There were always those couple of children that would scream and cry hysterically when their parents dropped them off and then went off to work. They were the most miserable children to deal with until they calmed down. They were the screamers.

Where Husband and I work out, there is a child center. Gym membership comes with free use of the child center, and we do make use of it. While Monkey Son #1 goes in happily and loves playing with all the new toys, Monkey Son #2 screams his ever-loving head off, sometimes grabbing my legs as he does. Oh, no! We have that child. The one caregivers dread.

On the upside, when we return to pick up the Monkeys a short time later, we find Monkey Son #2 stopped crying quite a while before, and now does not want to go home. He wants to play with the toys.

The other day, his hysterics started early. We were just pulling into the parking lot when he cried. I turned around and said sweetly to him that he was going to go play with the kids and the toys, and we would be back for him in a little while. He calmed down. He even smiled. He didn't cry again and seemed perfectly happy when we dropped him off.

Until the ninja.

As we started the ritual of dropping off the diaper bag and signing in the Monkeys, a boy of about 7 (maybe younger) jumped in front of Monkey Son #2, yelling and doing quasi-karate. Of course, he didn't make contact with Monkey, but was just noisy.

And then came the screaming.

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