Yesterday our small church had organized a "parents night out"

Basically, the idea was for parents to drop their kids off at one house that was going to watch them, feed them, and do games and crafts while the parents went out on their own for three hours. The second part was that a nearby house (10 min away) was hosting diner for any parents who just wanted to hang out and have adult conversations, play grown up games, and not deal with making other plans. We were that second house.

Now this all sounds good and well and it worked out pretty much as planned. There were plenty of volunteers to watch the kids, +Julia Shiras? had made a wonderful dinner, everyone was on time and there was only one kid who had separation issues.

Problem was, it was my kid. Benjamin has always been a cuddled and sometimes played the shy card but he never reacted like this before. He was hi usual clingy self when somewhere new or different (too many people) but would eventuality warm up and get into playing once he saw something he liked.

This time was different. Even though he's been to this house, knew every single person there, and had been aware of the plan for a while, he was just too overwhelmed. He didn't want me to leave him there. Corbin was good. He jumped right into playing and when he saw Benjamin struggle, he tried to be supportive and help ease his worries.

Eventuality, after twenty minutes of talking about this and explaining how quickly I'd be back and how much fun they were going to have, he agreed to be brave and let me go. That is, until I actually tried to go. You see, throughout this whole ordeal, he was unconsolable. Crying at the idea of being left there, holding on and lever letting go. But that last effort to leave he grabbed on to me with such strength that I don't know he had. I could barely pry his fingers off just to talk to him.

In the end I had to acquiesce. Benjamin would simply have to come back home and crash the parents night out. So I told our hosts he was going with me, grabbed his stuff and told Corbin that Benjamin was not staying. That's when Corbin's eyes started to swell up with tears. He could be brave and helpful but the idea of being the only Shiras there was too much for him. He didn't like the idea of being babysat to begin with bit this was too much. So both boys came home, crashed our dinner party and play wrestled mist of the evening.

So today, I'm going to share this song with them. They need to know how we feel about them so that they never have to feel this way again.


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4 thoughts on “Yesterday our small church had organized a "parents night out"

  1. I’m sure the boys would have been fine minutes after you leaving. That’s how my son is. I would try date night again, not only for you and Julia but to show the boys that they can have fun without. Good luck!

    1. Thanks. That’s been my experience watching other kids but having seen other kids reactions and never seeing this side of Benjamin made me realize it wasn’t going to happen that night. I do think he was more overwhelmed by the number of people there. Had we arrived early and I left them there, they would have handled it better.

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