Growing Pains (and I don't mean the hit TV show)

My sweet oldest child, Krews, is five. Five is a wonderful age. When you are five you are always carefree and happy. That is until you start having growing pains. Krews has been struggling a little in the past week. My boy who loves school and his friends, had his first meltdown at school last week. I went to his school pep rally and when I started to leave I saw big tears forming in his eyes. He started rubbing his eyes trying not to cry. His teacher started to comfort him and I went and talked to him and told him he could just come with me for the afternoon. I got him some lunch and got him calmed down. Then I sat down with him to figure out what in the world was going on! It turns out one of his friends told him to stop following him and that he didn't want to play with him. My heart was broken for him and this was our first instance of Krews having his feelings hurt by a friend. Krews has had people be mean to him before but he has been too young and naïve to realize anyone would be anything but nice to him. I know that his sweet friend didn't mean to hurt Krews' feelings and they are still great friends. The best way I could explain this to Krews was sometimes we say things we don't really mean. For example, he has told Kole to leave him alone before and that didn't mean he didn't love him and didn't want to be his friend. He was ok and was ready to see his friends again the next week.

Saturday was Kole's birthday and when he was opening his gifts and we were taking pictures, Krews got his feelings hurt. He said we only cared about Kole. (Because I clearly didn't get Krews little something too knowing they get a little jealous sometimes) Krews was having another instance of growing pains.

Fast forward to the next Friday and Kyle took him to breakfast and then to school. I asked Kyle how it went and he said "Well he was crying, but I'm sure he will be fine."




And that's when my heart almost stopped.




I immediately text one of his teachers and she said he was doing ok and that she would keep a close eye on him. It turns out Kyle dropped him off in a different place than usual (WHY?) and he got upset. He said he wanted to get him thru the line faster because Krews was nervous about being late. Luckily, when Kyle saw how upset he was, he parked the truck and walked him inside. Krews is a lot like me...if his schedule or normal routine feels off it makes him a little nervous.

What I have learned thru all of this is that it is HARD being a parent and raising kids thru growing pains. This was the first time we have dealt with emotional growing pains now that our kids are getting older. In the past, it has been growing pains based on toddler things of getting older. It makes me nervous for as my kids get older. As a parent, you have to be on it and aware of every little thing going on with your kids. It also makes me sad because what do kids without involved parents do to get thru their growing pains? Any parents of older boys who have been thru this phase, do you have any advice for me?