I FEEL WEIRD

“I feel sorta—weird,” my 8-year-old grandson said.

“How so?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Strange.”

School was starting the next day. That’s enough to make any kid feel weird. Any parent, teacher, grandparent for that matter! Seeing the little tikes off to school brings feelings hard to describe.

I probed a little more, but you know the balancing act with that . . .

            Don’t make it a big deal, so it doesn’t become a big deal.

            But if it is a big deal, don’t minimize it—you don’t want to do more harm by 

ignoring it!

            But if you do ignore it, maybe it will go away.  

            But what if it doesn’t?

            So, better say something.

(Now you know a bit about my grandparenting skills. Not much different than my earlier parenting skills.)

As he leaned into me I put my arm around his shoulder, giving him one of those it’s-going-to-be-okay squeezes.

It was time to go. His mom was here to pick him up.

After he left, I ran to my bookshelf for help.

I’ll drop these off later, I thought.

And then I spot the tattered, torn off cover of a book passed down to me from my husband’s grandmother who taught school over 60 years ago. (It’s declared collectible but still available on Amazon.)

This little (somewhat-weird) gem of over 70 pages is one of a kind.

Nothing like a good book to help lighten up the scene, or a soft, tender read to soothe the nerves, or maybe just some together-time to chat about a character who feels a little weird, too.

There are lots of books to tame the feelings that come when school starts . . . or whenever you, or someone you read to, is feeling a little weird. Here are a few more.

When the weirdness begins, get some books to help you and your tikes get through!