sub standard
Kirby wanted to give his skateboard a try. I stayed at home and took care of the chores, while the Wife drove with Kirby to a skate area, that is deserted in the early morning hours. I was nearly finished with my list of tasks when they returned; both silent, the air was pregnant with conflict. After Kirby had taken off his shoes he hugged me and started to cry, telling me mom has told him he will from now on never be allowed to watch tv anymore. The Wife clarified the situation; not being able to use a skateboard like Spider-Man does, Kirby threw the board around the place and declared it a piece of crap. They also had the bow and arrows — with suction cup tips of course — with them he got from my younger brother in-law, which he also declared to be of substandard quality, after not hitting anything. The Wife could not bring him out of the spiral of frustration about not being able to perform a task without practice, which led Kirby to call her a piece of shit mother on the way home.
He apologised on the way, still, the resentment lingered. It — hopefully — dissolved over the course of the day, and Kirby asked me, how i deal with frustration, and while telling him, i wasn't sure if he was genuinely interested or pretending to be to keep us off his back. It's something i mentioned in occupational therapy, he doesn't understand the impact of his decisions and behaviour due to being shielded by us. It's something i witness in many of the trainees at work. My parents got me out of trouble several times as well, seldom twice for the same mistake.
I want to help, while feeling helpless. Reading through all the materials i gathered and was handed deepens my frustration. Is stubbornly sticking to the plan the right thing to do? The Wife seems to think so, and she's working and has helped much more severe cases than Kirby.
Small steps forward will also lead somewhere … if it wasn't for those seemingly giant leaps back in between.