Sometimes I can't help!

Not many things make me want to cry as badly as seeing one of my children hurt, upset, and such. But the absolute worst is when my children suffer emotional hurts that I just cannot fix. Oh, I can try to fix it with a hug, but sometimes, not even mommy's hug can do the trick. So, this is how I felt when I saw Amber coming to the car after school. She was in tears and holding a yellow paper. That must only mean one thing. She got a yellow ticket (warning ticket!) from her teacher today. That means something happened and I wanted to know about it! Seems so insignificant, but to see her broken down like that just ripped my heart right out. I wanted to scoop her up right there and just hold her, but I couldn't because we were in the pickup area! I had to calm my own tears and talk to her teacher. Amber wasn't upset that she got a yellow ticket per se, it was the fact that she didn't get any time outs before getting a yellow ticket! She is the only child in that class to go immediately to a yellow ticket without having two timeouts first! She knows that and it hurts her terribly to be singled out like that. It isn't easy being picked on by the teacher. Every child needs to be treated fairly and it hurts me that I can't do anything about it. Luckily Amber has such resiliency and an amazing capacity to forgive. I think I would want to stop going to school if I knew my teacher treated me differently.
I knew this situation called for some big guns. When we got home Amber and Emma got in a tiff and Amber pushed Emma down. I sent Amber to her room and Emma downstairs. Ahhh . . . bright light! I took the opportunity to go sit with Amber and talk to her. The rocking chair is in her room. I sat in the rocking chair and gently told Amber to come over. I let her curl up in my lap and we talked. We talked about what happened at school and how she felt. I don't think I've had a better mom moment than this! Okay, so probably, but this definitely makes it to the top. We sat and talked until Amber was calm enough to eat lunch. The girls were so good during lunch and then . . .Shocking . . . all three kids took a nap! Yay!
Amber knows she made a mistake, I had the opportunity to bond with her, and she is ready to tackle the world again. Plus, she gets the chance to eat dinner at Grandpa's house tonight! How much cooler can that get? To her, it is the perfect salve for an injured heart! At least there she knows there are people who love her!