A playdate from hell

Having raised my son alone, I’m his father, mother, brother, sister, friend and confidante. The never-ending feeling of insecurity resulting from missing the mother has made him a bit cautious with reaching out to make friends, the reason he mostly prefers to cling onto me even when there are children around. 

That should tell you the joy in my heart when some young man once convinced him to detach from me and join fellow children in Sunday School. I approached the mother and informed her of my intention to go with her child for the afternoon, promising to drop him home when the two were done.

Trouble started before we left the church compound as the two began fighting over who would occupy the back left, which happens to be my son’s favourite seat. Being the elder of the two, I managed to talk to the friend (Jayden) into sitting on the right side for the sake of peace. The drive home was quiet,.

We got to the house and tempers flared. The same boy who had begged me to let Jayden come with us refused to share his toys, and they are so many he cannot play with all at once.

He would drive about two or three toy cars into a corner of the house, and Jayden would innocently pick and drive the unattended ones in the opposite direction. When my son saw it, he quickly rushed over to grab them from the boy who had seemingly become an enemy.

No-go zone

Sensing that Milan’s toys were a no-go zone, Jayden decided to seek solace in food. He requested that I make him porridge, something I never prepare in my house because my son hated it since he was a toddler.

Therefore, I was shocked when I poured Jayden’s porridge into a cup and my son extended one of his own. I watched as the two sat at the dining table and ate that porridge until their cups were dry.

Whether he had developed a love for it to keep up with the friend is a question I’m yet to find answers to. What I know is that my son willingly ate something he has always hated, then went back to default settings when I made it another time.

The third thing about this new connection was my son’s wanton disregard for everything I said, and the simple instructions he usually follows with ease were flouted.

First, they went to the bedroom and started rummaging through my wardrobe like a pair of detectives processing a crime scene. When I followed to investigate, half the clothes I had put in hangers were on the floor.

After an admonishing and making them clear the mess, they sat quietly for a few minutes before finding the next destination to strike.

Unresolved mystery

I walked into the sitting room to find they had poured a whole jar of fish flakes into the aquarium, now they sat watching the fish wade through the thousands of food particles strewn all over the cloudy water. 

My son, who never bothers with that aquarium having grown up with it, had for once gained interest like he was seeing it for the first time. I endured that cat and mouse game between me, Jayden and my son from 2pm up to about 7pm when the mother called to say she was back home so I could drop the son.

My son was back to the behaved young man I have raised for six years the moment the friend left.

That playdate opened my eyes to the fact that my son was ordinarily well behaved because he had just not met a brat. Otherwise there is an element of terror in him that only needs a trigger to show.

I bet even Jayden’s mother does not know the extent to which the young man can terrorise someone until he is in an environment that brings out the other side of him.

The unresolved mystery is that after being so adamant about sharing his toys with Jayden, he has brought home many other friends since they never fight over them. 

Hillary has raised his son on his own from the time he was six months. [email protected]