Fly, Baby, Fly

I am living with the mayor. He has to be one of the youngest mayors ever. He also may be the only mayor that puts his shirts on inside out, considers croutons a vegetable because they are at the salad bar and goes to bed by 8, but he sure is cute. 

In fifth grade at the kids’ school, they get to take a field trip to Junior Achievement’s Biztown for a day. They spend weeks preparing for this event. I went to Biztown for volunteer training yesterday and it is awesome. The organization has set up 15+ storefronts in a warehouse and for a day, kids get to come and run the city. Each kid has a job – CFO, store manager, accountant, UPS driver, etc. They get payroll checks and open up savings accounts. The shops include KeyBank, City Hall, the Humane Society and a café, to name a few. The whole experience is designed to teach kids about managing money, running a business, working together and the economy. Almost all the jobs are assigned. Each kid lists their top three choices and hope they get one of the jobs. Manager of the sports store seems to be the most popular pick. All jobs are assigned but one….mayor. To be mayor of Biztown you have to get elected. This involves giving a speech….to all the kids…a couple of times. Just the thought of public speaking makes my heart race. I am not a fan of public speaking. I would do anything to avoid it. Even in fifth grade.

But my son, he likes the limelight. He knew immediately that he wanted to be mayor. Those of you who know him probably aren’t surprised. He is confident – sometimes too confident. He told me a few weeks ago that he wanted to be mayor. Of course you do. He worked on his speech. The night before he told me he thought he should dress up. I couldn’t convince him that white athletic socks with khakis and button down didn’t really complete the outfit. “Mom, nobody is going to see my socks.” Ummm…okay. He also told me the night before the speech that he needed a visual aid. Really? Can’t YOU be the visual aid? We talked him out of a late Target run to make buttons and settled on business cards. He was so nervous the night before. Too nervous to eat his snack and for Mason to not eat is like not sleeping to the rest of us. And, he did it. He handed out his business cards and gave his speech….and, he won.

Today I am realizing that sometimes the traits I love in my kids are the ones that I don’t have anything to do with. I am not outspoken and confident. In fifth grade if I had done Biztown, I wouldn’t have signed up to be a CFO. I would have worked at the wellness clinic or the Humane society. I wouldn’t have stuck my neck out. Too much risk. Mason’s three job choices if he didn’t get mayor were news photographer, UPS driver and real estate agent. None of these sound appealing to me because you have to be outgoing for all of them. The UPS driver just sounds mildly appealing only because of the exercise. I want to be behind the scenes. But, that’s one of the traits I love in Mason. It’s worth the risk to him. I tried to give him one of those “you know, even if you don’t win, I am so proud of you speeches” and he said, “Mom, you make it sound like you don’t think I will win.” Oh. That’s not what I meant. Of course I want you to win but I want to protect you from the disappointment. Then I realized that’s not what he wants. He wants me to jump up and down and tell him I think he will win. I can save the “I am proud of you no matter what” for after.

When I see these traits I am so unfamiliar with, I stand in wonder. They are becoming their own independent little beings and I need to work harder at letting it happen. So, today I will be the jump up and down and celebrate mom. I will do my best to encourage these traits I am so unfamiliar with. I will save my lesson on “the trying is the important part” until next time and most of all….I will try to get out of the way so they can fly.