Lighting up the house as you go...
My younger kids (5 and 8) don't like to go upstairs by themselves at night. Sometimes in the day too, (esp. if they have just seen something scary on tv).
~~~
I remember *being* like this. We had a "rec room" in the basement when I was a kid. Lots of room for lounging about, and so the whole family spent Saturday nights down there watching TV and drifting off to sleep after the news (no one wanted to wake up enough to get up and turn the TV off, so I would often wake up when the "ant races" came on).
I remember one time, when I was about 9. It was springtime, and we had all been out doing stuff all day, playing or working in the yard. The house was cleaned up and I was freshly washed. Dad asked me to go upstairs and adjust the thermostat, something I'd never done before. I was proud that he asked me to do something important and just for adults, but I was scared to DEATH. I said I didn't want to. He cajoled me into it, and it was obvious my brothers weren't going to budge. I finally opened the basement door, flipped on the hall light, looked up the stairs for a second...I KNEW my family was watching to see if I would run. I took a deep breath and started up the stairs at kid-pace, but not running. Turned the corner at the middle landing and RAN the rest of the way to the thermostat just at the top of the stairs.
I stood there, breathing heavily, and remembered the instructions. I adjusted it just like Dad told me to do. Proud of myself for doing it "just right", I took a deep breath in appreciation of the heat coming on. Then, I realized I wasn't afraid anymore. I stood there at the top of the stairs, took a look around the living room, flipped off the light and walked calmly down the stairs.
My pride had overcome my fear.
posted by Karen Ann @ 6:08 AM
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