Trouble at camp
The boy’s been at camp all last week, and it was going OK until Thursday when he decided to run for the road. They were able to contain him, and stabilize him. I went to pick him up a little earlier than usual because Beth had scheduled a swim class for him.
The first thing the boy said to me was: “Dad, there is good news, and there is bad news.”
I told him I had heard the bad news already, and he told me that he had been a good helper in the afternoon. Since we had to go to swimming, I decided not to dwell on the running-toward-the-road incident. We were doing well on our way the swim club when Beth called. I told her I had the boy and we were doing OK and almost there.
Then she asked to talk to him.
I gave the boy the phone, and she reminded him that because he did something unsafe, he wasn’t going to be allowed to use his computers. The boy started crying, kicking, and throwing things. I’m guessing he wasn’t happy with that consequence.
He had been nearly calm when we got to the swimming place. It’s a club neither of us had ever been to, so I asked where he could change. The attendant pointed us to the men’s changing room.
Once there, the boy refused to change. I was still upset about Beth aggravating the situation, so I wasn’t able to help the boy calm down. We found the family changing room, but by then it was clear that this swimming thing wasn’t going to happen.
I was angry at Beth for having scheduled this swimming class so it interfered with his camp day, and I was angry at her for getting him upset. So I did the worst thing possible at this point: I called her to let her know how wrong she was. You can imagine how understanding she was.
I took the boy to my house where we both eventually calmed down. But it was a pretty messy Thursday.
It’s the worst Beth and I have handled a conflict since we separated.