Happy Halloween
Friday, October 30th, 2015From Friday Mom – Erin:
We took Rory to a Halloween party last weekend. It was one of a handful of times I’ve seen Rory exhibit true fear. Trembling, speechless, unfiltered fear – at an adult-sized Darth Vader costume.
He wouldn’t even step inside the front the door.
After coaxing him a bit and picking him up, he came on inside and settled in as far away in the house as humanly possible from the costumed man (who just so happened to be the father of the host). Eventually, our hosts graciously asked the masked man to reveal the fact that, underneath, he was a gentle old grandfather (and not the frightening man on the exterior). By the end of the evening, Rory couldn’t stop talking about his buddy Darth Vader and how he was very scary, but that he was really a man. A very nice man.
Although I feel badly watching Rory tremble with fear, I also find it fascinating to watch how he processes his fears. Having watched his reaction under such circumstances a handful of times previously, I’ve come to realize that talking about things after the fact is his methodology for processing his emotions. This time, that processing was a bit more sophisticated than the last, in that he seems to be verbalizing what scared him a bit more, as well as what he has come to realize as part of his no longer being scared.
I’m hoping he learned his lesson reasonably well– I’m sure we’ll have to revisit it tomorrow when we go trick or treating. Hopefully if we run into Darth out on the sidewalk, he’ll stand tall and remember that he’s really a very nice man.