Taking A Break

There are neighborhood kids everywhere, and it’s amazing. They are in our driveway, in our backyard, in our trees. These kids are running around with my boys, swinging foam swords and filling plastic cups with weird mud concoctions and making forts out of gnarled sticks. I peek out at them every once in a while to make sure that a scream wasn’t a cry and everyone’s okay – and they usually are. But last week I heard crying and yelling. I went outside to see what was going on, and two of the kids were upset after a tussle had gone wrong. Everyone was okay – one friend just didn’t stop when the other had enough. Nevertheless, the feelings got big really fast, and the tears fell and the words were snuffled as they explained to me what happened. We talked it out and they went off to play. I peeked out a few minutes later to see if the joy had returned and I saw one of the boys sitting off by himself. When I asked him how he was doing, he said, “I just need to take a break for a few minutes.”

I was really impressed that this little guy knew what he needed, that he could listen to his body so well. He probably knew he wouldn't have fun yet. He probably knew he wouldn’t make good decisions yet. He probably knew he needed a moment to process what happened.

This was fresh on my mind when I read Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats this week. In this book our beloved Peter, from The Snowy Day, just became a big brother and it’s not going well for him. His mom shushes him when his block tower crashes down and his dad is painting his old baby furniture pink. So Peter takes matters into his own hands, grabs his favorite blue chair, and runs away…to his front yard. There he realizes he no longer even fits in that little blue chair. He spends a little while outside in thought, and eventually goes back inside. When he does, ostensibly at peace, he asks his dad if he can help his dad paint the little blue chair pink for his sister.
I’m guilty of letting the world tell me that taking a break is being lazy or retreating from a problem. These two little boys, both real and fictional, reminded me that a break is sometimes just what I need to let the joy return.
#ezrajackkeats