THE MATURE HARD TIMES ALTERNATOR
I recently became aware of an extension to an
earlier hypothesis around the distribution and amelioration of Hard Times. This
revelation came about during a moment where it was all I could do to keep my
sanity because waaaaaaaaaaay too much stuff was going down. In the presence of
my children, I had a major – and, apparently, noticeable -- lapse of my usual Momveneer* of steady
competence and cheer – and Guess What!
The kids could actually handle it.
G, usually happily – to his mother, scarily - devoid
of Executive Function and Mundane Practical Concerns/Attention, became suddenly
attuned to things he’d never seemed to even register before: “Mom, don’t you
need to put your turn signal on here?” he asked, to my utter astonishment (filtered
through a murky haze of despair). “You seem like you are not focusing,” he told
me a few minutes later. “Do you need to take a break?”
Meanwhile Z, who is not known for being
forthcoming about her intentions or actions, became crystal clear, meticulous
and solicitous: “May I get a glass of water?” (My reaction, percolated via a
thick fog of dejection: HUH???) “May I get you
a glass of water too?” “How are you doing, Mama?”
It gradually dawned on me that what I was
experiencing was a manifestation of The MATURE Hard Times Alternator. I had
been well aware of the machinations of The Hard Times Alternator (THTA) in my
children, but did not know that it was also potentially a major player in any
Full family dynamic. Adults are usually a peripheral factor in the HTA equation.
I hadn’t realized grownups sometimes – however momentarily - merit this sort of
ethereal (yet, when necessary, child-incorporating) intervention!
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Figure I – The Mature Hard Times Alternator in
Action, utilizing the
This flare-up of The Mature Hard Times
Alternator is not something I would want to incur too often. I like to let my
kids be kids, and I think some of their response was out of anxiety. Plus, that
sort of disastrophe pile-up is not
something I’d like to endure with any frequency. It was nonetheless liberating
and reassuring in the way it revealed the junior Full Spectrums’ potential
capabilities -- and to see them step up when called for by TMHTA.
This holiday season, may your HTA in be in good
working order; and may your MHTA be at the ready…should that by any chance
become necessary.
Love,
Full Spectrum Mama
*Veneer! I said veneer!
