Children Are A Joy

Ugh, just because you are expecting a thing that doesn't make it any less icky when it happens.

The S.P. was not raised to be the sort of child who quietly sits back and accepts whatever strange mood he is presented with by the adults in his life. While respecting the assumed wisdom of those with more life experience, there are far too many "adults" (that is people who have made it past puberty and into physical adulthood) who are deserving of nothing like respect since the only thing life experience has given them is a superior ability to justify nastiness and damaging behavior.

That being the case the S.P. has always been offered a relatively fair---after all, I'm not perfect either---hearing.

Considering that most 12 year olds are not adept at knowing just when to loose their arrows of unsolicited opinion I shouldn't have been surprised when the serpent decided to bare its sharp, sharp tooth...

We'd just left his practice after skating class, and the S.P. was getting his skates off and telling me what he'd done on the ice. Since I, like countless other skater parents, sit and watch the lad occaisionally when he's practicing I notice what he's working on.

Now, I don't have him in skating lessons because I expect him to be an olympian. If he turns out to be that good, well then, more power to him. The real reason I wanted to give him the gift of skating as well as swimming ability is that I want him to have something enjoyable that he can do for the rest of his life.
When he is a 53 year old man who has had a nasty fight with his wife, or my grandchildren tell him that they hate him and didn't ask to be born, I'd like the Prince to be able to head down to the rink or the pool and spend a couple of hours losing himself and dissipating his frustration through the outlet of positive physical activity.

S.P. and I met a chap who is in his 80s and works part time as an assistant at the Petit Ice Center in Milwaukee.
This fellow skates around seeing that the kids who come for the public skate days are doing okay on the ice. The ability to spend ones 80s in a wholesome, useful and upbeat endeavor surrounded by happy people enjoying some exercise sounds like a great long term gift for the Prince!

To that end I've set the little Omen up with a very nice local coach with whom he meets once a week (In summer twice a week but school is his main concentration now...see, I'm NOT expecting an olympian) We also hit the ice whenever there is free time so that S.P. can practice what he's learned and just enjoy larking about on the ice.

Today, however, was a lesson day and I hoped the Prince would use his extra ice time going over what he'd learned...at least a little bit so when he came off the ice and mentioned that one of the moves he'd just been taught was hard to master I shrugged and said that I was happy to see him out there struggling and stumbling a bit because it meant he was practicing what he'd just been taught and would get the hang of it sooner.

Here's where it got ugly:

Coldly, his Highness turned and looked at me with the dead eyes of the utterly contemptuous.
(Bear in mind he is a boy and boys don't roll their eyes like girls do. I guess the cold gaze thing is the male version) and in a snippily offhand tone that would have left Nellie Olson gasping in admiration he said,

"Just let me enjoy the sport."

I took a long, deep breath. I considered regicide, but since the S.P. is only the Prince and not a reigning monarch throttling him on the spot would not be regicide. Hmmmm, all that was left for me was to be dangerously, ultra civilized.
Miracle of miracles, I didn't yell! No heads were lopped off, and no towns or even small villages were razed!
Birds continued to chirp happily in the trees.

I did explain calmly and, evilly that the skating lessons, the ballet, and the ice time when they were added up, cost the court treasury dearly. To that end, IF S.P. wished only to play about on the ice for a few hours and not apply himself to the subjects of his lessons. I would save a great deal of money if I cancelled the lessons and let him just come to public skate now and then...I would also be spared the looming, grinning, spectre of $500.00 figure skates which haunts my dreams both asleep and awake.

I think S.P. was truly sorry. He must have realized just how shoddy he'd sounded, especially in light of the sacrifices it takes for me to keep skating as an option for him. This is not some Hollywood Celebu-kid hobby that regardless of expense costs nothing in the sense of "costing" the family. In our household maintaining his skating tuition and its accoutrements takes a substantial bite out of the treasury, a bite that could easily go toward other things.
Because the skating costs so much more for us than it does for the families who have five SUVs and could spend a thousand dollars a weekend and not feel it S.P. is obliged to either do his bit to improve with the program...or call it a day.

Rudeness is NOT an option since the Prince KNOWS the score and is hardly one of those kids who is or, indeed, can be isolated from the reality of life and money. I don't believe in that sort of thing even if he could be done.

A prince knows the worth of things. He knows the worth of what is done for and given him. He doesn't simply take things mindlessly for granted. A Prince while he may be entitled is NOT ungrateful, and he does not make it harder on his court through sheer wanton lack of mental strength and self discipline. He develops sympathy for others and a strong understanding.

The other road leads to revolution.