Décorations de Nöel


Having a child finally in first grade means that there will be school functions one cannot avoid. Being a very unsociable kind of person, akin to a hermit, I'd say, and a highly judgemental one at that, I do have a hard time connecting with others. I usually have a tendency to find most people either boring or down right disagreable, so I prefer to be polite but not engage in deep conversations. Thankfully, I am not expected to do that at my son's school - although there are other schools in the area where parents are required to connect to each other - and that is one less pressure in my mind.


Oh, I would love to still be that social buterfly I was in my teens, hanging around everyone that crossed paths with me, being sociable and active and outgoing, an extrovert at first sight, while deep down I was still the same introvert lacking social skills and therefor acting the class clown in order to not feel left out. I have grown tired of that over the years and prefer to be left alone and not be forced to being around people I simply do not like nor feel I have anything in common with.


A a parent, that is the worst thing I can do. I am teaching my son to be unsociable, to be a loner, to steer clear of others and never make any connections. I am aware of that. S there are times when I do force myself out of my own shell and try and mingle with others, for the sake of my son, and I always make it a point of talking to him about the value of friendship, the importance of having good friends around, other than just our family. So I am happy to see him go to school parties, and have a great time mingling with the other children, I am happy to see him make friends aside from the ones he brought from kindergarten, I am happy to see him connect to others, even if I cannot do the same myself.


And so it was that on the last school day of this term, there was a Christmas party for the kids and the teachers and the school's employees, where it was asked of parents that they send along some nibbles for everyone to share. It was a joy to see the boy enthuse about baking a batch of vanilla cookies in Christmas-y shapes and decorate them with chocolate chips that he could share with his friends, it was a joy to see him proudly present his cookies and invite everyone to try them, and simply be a social being, conversant and able to mingle with others while still standing out. And the cookies where mighty good, too!!


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