Meanwhile, every single one is taking turns reading aloud from the children's books, and they are all writing in their journals, then sharing their writings. Today's exercise was to write about their favorite childhood playmate. One young woman didn't want to write, because her Grandma was her only playmate. We talked about how wonderful that was; and, with encouragement from the group and from me, she wrote a short paragraph. This is the mother who thinks she can't write at all. I think she was as excited about her paragraph as I was.
I was reading Lyra's journal this morning and chuckling because her story about the KKKomputer Kid ( a teacher) reminded me about a blond, blue-eyed 9-year-old who used to live with us. She had an admirer in her class who tormented her, as only a 4th-grade boy can. He would follow her down the long hill to religious education on Wednesdays, pulling her hair, pushing her books out of her hands, stepping on her heels so that her shoes came off. He was in love.
This little blond's younger brother kept warning the kid that his sister didn't get mad often, but when she did, he better watch out. He ignored the warning and kept on being obnoxious, because what could this delicate girl do to him? (It must be a male thing.) So one day, according to her brother, she had had it. This kid had pushed her books and her papers flew all over the very busy road. She turned, and in one swoop, threw that would-be beau over a hedge by the hair of his head.
Her brother was ecstatic, telling us this story, and describing the kid, lying on his back, in the yard. Lyra never said anything, except that it was a pain rescuing her papers from the street. So, KKKOmputer Kid, watch out. She doesn't suffer fools gladly.
Today was another Parenting Class. We are really melding as a group. The "Affirmation Covers" I introduced last week were brought out today, and during the class, more positive words were added onto each paper. We talked a lot about recognizing our feelings, and we did a couple exercises that our CSW had suggested in our roundtable yesterday. There is a long way to go to build up those self-images that have been damaged by the years of harsh and negative parenting that they experienced. But they want to learn, to change, and to be good parents. The motivation is there; I just have to find the key to helping them.
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