Presents · Saturday April 28, 2007 by Abbie

Today while we were getting dressed Ram yet again asked if he was going to get any presents. He has been doing this everyday and I keep saying no, you get presents at Christmas, Easter and Birthday.

So I told him while we were doing our teeth in the bathroom that I was thinking of bringing this up in the next family meeting and saying that for every time he asked for presents, he would get one less at Christmas.

He started crying saying that he wouldn’t ever get a present again! I explained to him he would, all he had to do was not ask for them.

He went and crawled under the duvet. I finished getting dressed, then put the bread in the oven and did a couple of quick things before going back up to him 10 minutes later. He was still crying under the duvet!

One of the problems with being a single parent is that if one parent upsets the child, the child can’t go to the other one for comfort.

So I had to pretend I wasn’t mum and sat there talking to the duvet, saying things like, ‘Do you think mum over reacted? Do you think that you are asking for presents too much? What should she have said to you? ’ And so on. It seemed to help and he did come out from under the duvet but was still really upset.

He said that it ruined his whole day!

When Dxh came Ram wanted me to tell him why his day was ruined! So I did, then Dxh was able to talk to him and tell him that presents are for special occasions, Christmas, birthday and Easter in our house. I think we have got through to him. But it is so frustrating that it is all or nothing. He really did think that he would never get another present again! I kept pointing out to him that he had the power here, because if he didn’t ask for them he would get lots, but he just couldn’t see it!

Despite Ram’s repeated assertion that his day was ruined, he and Dxh still seemed to have a good time outside in the afternoon. They played baseball with a difference. Ram was the batter standing on the trampoline holding a two metre, four inch soil pipe as a bat, and Dxh throwing a netball!

Saturday night is now all about Dr Who. We watched the new episode and then the making of it in Dr Who Confidential. It is a really great way to find out all about how TV programmes are made, and just what all the different people do. When I was at school I had no idea about all these people involved in making programmes. It must be great for careers advice!

When we were getting ready for bed we discussed the presents situation again. He nearly asked for some, but stopped himself just in time!

Maybe he is getting it after all. It just took him all day!

It Is Only Fiction A very quiet day today, that is, until the evening!