And So It Begins

This week is Vacation Bible School week at Idlewild, which means Connor has had to spend an hour or so a day in gen pop learning songs about “surfing the scripture” and mingling with older kids. It has made him extremely nervous, as being around big kids tends to do.

The thing that has stressed him out the most is the idea that he might have to sing a song, on stage, with people he doesn’t know. (I find it fascinating that he is more nervous about singing with people he doesn’t know than he is about singing for people he doesn’t know.) A specific source of his anxiety has been the three people who are teaching him the song. These are the people he doesn’t know the most, apparently.

Yesterday I confirmed with his teacher that he doesn’t actually have to sing on a stage- the church kids will perform their song some time this Sunday, and the daycare kids aren’t involved in that. They’re just learning it to have something to do this week, I guess. Once Connor heard that, he was much happier about the whole ordeal. Last night he even sang the song for me and showed me the hand movements that go with it. (This just a day after being in denial about the whole thing and insisting that he couldn’t remember any of it.) After the performance, he finally felt comfortable enough to tell me what was really causing all of his anxiety.

“Mom, you know those three people teaching us the song? Two of them are just really big kids! How can they know how to teach little kids?”

I explained to him about teenagers and how sometimes they are babysitters or camp counselors, etc. It seemed to make sense to him. Then he continued.

“Uh, so one of the girls teaching us that song? She is really, um, really pretty. She has a bow in her hair and it’s really pretty. She’s, uh, real pretty like you are. Except you’re like, a half bit, uh, a little bit, um, you’re just a little more. . . She’s just a little bit prettier than you are!”

Sigh.