Ethan is our passionate child. From day one, he has been hot or cold most of the time. The older he gets, the more mellow time there is, but he is still a very intense little guy. When he's bad, he's really bad, and when he's good, he's really good. Because of the intensity of his personality, I talk to him a lot about the good/bad war within him. He has a good handle on the idea that he has a "good heart" and "bad heart," each vying for his permission to act.
One night, I had tucked all the kids into bed, and Ethan asked me to lay down and sleep with him. I usually tell him no because Marcus is usually waiting for me to watch a TV show and hang out with him. But Marcus was working late and I was exhausted myself, so I cuddled up with Ethan on his single mattress and closed my eyes. I was just about to drift off when I heard him whisper in a smugly mischievous voice:
"Mommy, I'm making my bad heart very, very angry."
I asked him what he meant, and he explained that since he was being so good today, his bad heart was getting madder and madder that it wasn't getting a chance to be bad. As he was talking, I realized that he had a mental image of something like this going on inside of him: a little demon locked up in a cage and throwing a massive fit of rage while the good little angel skipped circles around the cage. I was telling this story to a friend later on, and my friend pointed out that Ethan had found a way to "be bad" by being good. His love for power and strength over anything, even the "bad heart" inside of him, is helping motivate him to behave well!
1 comment:
WOW! That's quite a vivid picture Ethan has in his head. I'm glad he's figured out a way to help himself make good choices. :)
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