Pushing Buttons

Pushing Buttons

Today, I went to visit with friends for the afternoon. I have known my friend for 20 years, and have seen her go through some tough times as as a single parent with a young daughter.  She remarried 15 years ago, and with her husband had another child.  Alex is now nearly 12 and a great kid.  Sadly, he suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, which has brought a lot of grief for the family, and a total change in how the family operates.

However, Alex is a very bright and friendly child, full of wisdom. I'm convinced he is an  old soul. He's so funny to be around, but today he was pushing all the buttons on both his parents.  He and his father had made plans to go to the movies, but when I visited, Alex was quite happy to stay behind and join in the social afternoon.  The whole time we were having coffee, Alex was either fiddling with something, asking me to come look at something in his room, show me what he had bought and wrapped for Christmas for his parents. 

In between all this, he was doing that thing that irritates the hell out of all parents: throwing an object and catching it, repeatedly, right in our personal spaces. In this case, Alex was giving his wallet a workout, and coins were flying everywhere.  On it went for about half an hour, and I could see his parents getting more tense by the minute.  

Finally, Dad had had enough after repeatedly asking him to get ready to go to the movies. He stomped back into the living room and announced that they were not going.  All this was not helped by the fact that Dad had opened the front door, and all the Christmas cards went flying off the shelves,  because of the windy weather we are experiencing at the moment.  Eventually, Dad got Alex out of the door and into the car, leaving me and my girlfriend alone for a chat.  She promptly burst into tears.

There isn't really a moral to this story, I just wanted to share it with other parents.