Child Psychology

At 23, I never thought I could play the role of "the other woman" in a child's eyes. But I did. It was not easy. I was anxious of what the kid's perception and impression of me would be. Glad I am used to dealing with kids. I think he was quite comfortable with me around. Lucky him 'coz I was not. I was thinking, "Man, I am too young for this!" I mean, he thought I was his mom's friend, but his dad explained to him our relationship. I am not sure if he understood or not. Maybe in some deep recesses of his brain, he did understand. But we shared chips while watching TV together. Despite the 2-hour travel to get to his place, it was worth it. The sunset reflecting by the bay was amazing also. Too bad I did not have a cam with me.

HE has a son. I think this is the first time that I opened this fact in my blog. That is one of the reasons why I am hesitant to let my parents know about our relationship. At 33, he has his own share of life and "mistakes". His son was adopted by his older sister since the mother already has a family of her own, living in another continent with another man. I am not sure if the child is aware, at age 10, of his situation. He knows he has a lot of Mamas, Papas, Dads and Moms. He has been through a lot of transfers-- from one house to another and from one school to another... different people and places.

I also wanted to meet the kid because HE told me that he has problems coping up with class. I was able to note some things:

1. He likes to concentrate on computer games, gameboy, mobile phone games, TV as if his eyes are not tired. The boy has glasses now and is undergoing eye treatment due to unnecessary fast blinking of both eyes and eye irritation.

2. He is not autistic since he likes to talk to people. But sometimes he skips from one topic to another completely different topic. Like his thoughts don't have coherence at all.

3. Sometimes he talks to himself too!

4. He gets upset easily, has short temper but is not violent.

5. He understands but he can't seem to cope with school. He thinks the teacher is too fast-paced for him.

6. If he is interacting with other kids, there is a noted difference in his actions and reactions from them.

I dunno what diagnosis to give since I don't have a child psychology degree. He's special in some way but is not entirely abnormal. I think it would be best for him to consult a child psychologist.

But it was one different weekend experience.