Most kids reach a point when they just can't take it anymore and they have to bail... Fortunately this usually happens when they're too young to do it well and are caught before they leave the house. I did it once in kindergarten. My dad caught me on the deck and gave me a heartfelt talk about how much he'd miss me. I ended up sobbing and never tried again. My brother attempted to go movie-style and tied sheets together and dropped them out the front window (note to kids: If you drop your escape line in front a the dining room window, you should probably not attempt to escape during dinner.).
Just yesterday afternoon, Greg and I were talking about how much Benjamin is like Greg's brother, Steve. (Bear with me.... it'll seem relevant in a minute.)
Benjamin loves helping. He is a great worker and quite handy around the house. Greg was working on the stairs yesterday and had an area of the floor that had construction dust and mess. Everywhere else was clean. He told Ben to avoid the messy area. Ben walked through it accidentally. Greg reminded him not to do that and to watch out. Apparently Benjamin was having a spacy day and did it a couple more times. Greg told him (a little more forcefully, but definitely not yelling) to stay away from the messy area. Benjamin ran upstairs.
A few minutes later, Greg told me Benjamin was upstairs crying. I went up there to check on him and saw him, with tears in his eyes, cramming stuffed animals into his backpack.
The mom part of me wanted to grab him, hug him, and just cuddle him for a long, long time. The other part struggled not to laugh and wondered:
* Would it be completely wrong to run downstairs and grab my camera?
I resisted, but it was hard. I had Greg come upstairs and he talked to Benjamin for a couple of minutes. I ended up holding him and cuddling him as much as he'd let me. I think when I "ran away," my thoughts were along the lines of, "They don't love me or want me" or "They don't understand me." I think Benjamin was just ticked off. He's a hot-headed little thing. He hugged me but wouldn't let Greg near him for a bit.
Oh.... and to tie Greg's brother in. He was their family's only runaway. :) Yet another thing Benjamin has in common with Uncle Steve.
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