The Gentlest Person I Know

Today one of the joys in my life comes home.  It will be too short of a visit but it always is.  Two weeks will go by in the blink of an eye.  As those closest to me know the reasons my son is not with me.  Right now it is in his best interest to be with my sister and sister-in-law. 

My son is extremely smart but has some learning disabilities that make it necessary for him to be home schooled to get up to his grade level.  Even though I sent him to private schools, it isn't a matter of him not being able to do the work, it's in the manner in which he learns is the problem.  We have discovered he is an almost completely auditory learner, and for some reason his brain treats reading as a foreign language and it's difficult for him to read.  But if you read him something, he can remember it, comprehend it the same as if he were reading it himself.  Add on top of this, dyslexia and ADHD, and it creates some serious challenges to learning. 

School learning environments cater to those who are visual learners which means they have an easier time learning to read and being able to work more independently of the teacher.  Because of his issues my sister and sister-in-law stepped up and said they would be able to home-school him along with my nephew, (who happens to be a week younger than my son), so it makes things easier for the boys to learn because they can help each other in the different things they are good at doing. 

It's hard to accept that right now I'm not the best person for my son to be with, but as with everything involving your children, you have to put their needs first.  I miss the random hugs he gives, the day to day things that he would do that would make me laugh.  He's very intelligent, very kind, and is a very empathetic little boy.  My son will make comments on things that are very advanced for his age, and then turn around and do something that will make you shake your head and think the boy isn't right. 

But overall, he has a brightness and a joy for life that just emanates from him.  He accepts things that come his way whether bad or good.  He is so kind and gentle, that the words my dad said to me come back strongly when I look at my son.  There are times I worry about my son and this world will try to make him bitter and mean.  But I'm hoping and praying that like me, as my dad noticed in me, that his strength will come from that place of gentleness.  Had my dad lived, he would say that my son, his grandson, is the most gentle soul he has ever come across.  I know that my son is the gentlest person I've come across.  I'm not being biased, it is the way he is. 

In many ways he is at a disadvantage.  By being a boy in a world that expects boys to be borderline mean and cruel, kindness isn't looked upon too favorably.  I'm hoping that between my sister, my sister-in-law, myself, and positive male role models he will find a balance and know to be firm but gentle in how he approaches the world and those around him, AND be strong enough to not let others influence him to be someone he isn't.