Last week, for Vanessa's special week at school, and with a slight hesitation, she shared Skar with her class. When we talked about it the weekend before her special week, she described how she would worry for him at night when no one was at the school. She had a ton of questions.
Who will watch him? How will we feed him? How will we get him there? What if someone tries to take him? We discussed a plan and all the factors involved. She concluded it would be a special treat for her classmates as long as I would help get him there on Monday.
The first time they fed Skar in the classroom, her teacher videotaped and projected the activity on the screen. Her classmates were overly excited. When Skar went after his first cricket, most of the class squealed and laughed. This upset Vanessa tremendously, because she thought they were laughing
at him. She internalized her frustration and hurt until after school when she came out noticeably upset.
This ended up being another moment where I felt
I was at fault for possibly traumatizing my daughter. Sure, when I paused long enough to rationalize it all, I understood that I could not have known when I encouraged her to take him to school. And truly, this experience ended up being a wonderful example for how people express themselves differently and how we need to be careful not to misinterpret and take others' reactions personally.
Since returning home, Vanessa has a hard time putting the little guy down. She told him that she missed him and gave him kisses. She asked him in a motherly tone if he missed her too. It's obvious by his responses that he loves her and he loves to be home.
*Special Request: If you happen across a turtle or frog, we'd love to take him or her to Vanessa's class for the rest of the year. They have an empty and well-stocked aquarium. And there's an abundant supply of mealworms.
