My poor son is a worry wart. He will worry about something for a long time without even saying anything about it. For example, he worried all summer about having to do 100 math problems in five minutes on the first day of first grade. When we say something to him or around him, he will be processing it in his brain for days or weeks. We don't realize it until he asks us questions about it several days later. His little mind is always working. This is both a blessing and a curse.Take for example early Friday morning, 3:00 am to be exact. I am awaken by my little son lightly tapping on my arm saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy.". When I wake up he asks me, "Mommy, how long after you swallow gum will you die?" In my half awake mind I am thinking what in the world is he talking about. "What?" I ask him. "How long does it take after you swallow gum will it be before you die?" I am awake now and realize that I need to be very careful of what I say to him right now.
When I ask what happened he tells me that at the Parents Club meeting, one of his friends gave him some gum. This was probably the very first time that he has ever had gum. Well, he swallowed it. He remembered when I told his sister several months before that she could not have gum anymore because she swallowed it. At the time I had said that swallowing gum was not good for you; that it could plug up your intestines and you could die. In hindsight I should have remembered who my audience was.
So he had been worried about swallowing this gum for several days. He never said anything until he woke up in the middle of the night and his stomach was hurting. He was convinced that things were dire for him and he would not let up the medical questions. Every answer I gave him was followed by "But Mommy, how do you know?" After about ten minutes, Daddy told him to go to sleep. So he kept whispering questions to me. I was finally able to convince him that he was not constipated, his tummy was not distended, he was not running a fever and that if I truly thought something was going to happen to him, that I would be rushing him to the hospital. He finally was convinced, for the time being, and was able to go back to sleep. He of course slept with us the rest of the night.
The funny thing is that since Friday afternoon he has had a sore throat, headache and a runny, congested nose. He must have asked me at least ten times this weekend if I am sure that these symptoms have nothing to do with swallowing gum. Oh I feel so sorry for this little soul. He is going to have many sleepless nights as he gets older. I will have to pray for comfort for him.
4 comments:
You know what? My middle son is a total worrier too. I don't get it. Granted, I'm a worrier too, but I do it mostly internally. He has always been a worrier -- I just can't help but feel bad for him sometimes.
Does he get this from his Papa? I feel so bad for him that he worries so long before it can be detected. Maybe you'll have to sit down with him at a scheduled time (daily/weekly) to ask if he's worried about anything or if he has anything he wants to ask you. If you get in a habit of doing this you'll be guaranteed to get calls from him when he's away at college.
Oh to have that gene is not a blessing - I have it too. I think grasshopper is right, that maybe a regular time weekly would help him. Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with the cold.....?
Poor little boy. If only there was a way that you could tell when his mind was racing!
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