Parenthood. Seriously. Too seriously??

My sweet Sam is doing so well in school. He has this easy, laid-back personality that is easy to love. Apparently he does not get this trait from me.

The new school has a lot of homework. Usually at least 30 minutes a night, plus spelling and reading. Add piano and other life activities, and I guess it becomes a very good thing that we have 6 hours between school and bedtime.

Sam does very well with this, as long as he sticks to a pretty set schedule. I try to make studying a little fun or at least break it up a bit. For example, when we practice spelling words, I try to have fun using them in a sentence. Tonight the word was "running." so, like any good parent, I used this opportunity to teach him his first bad pick up line: "Are you tired? Cause you've been running through my mind all night.". Hilarious. He laughed and said, "I don't think that would really work, right?" Right.

So, when I give him the next word, he said, "What's the bad pick up line for that one, Mom?" Of course it was like hopping or bobbing, and I had to admit that he had stumped me. We laughed for a minute and then I shifted into mom-speak:
"I don't know one for everything, Sam, so you'll just have to write the word so we can get this done. "

[cue the whammy sounder here]

Sam's face gets all sad and he gets hurt. He says something about how he's just a bad kid. Of course, I said , "No way! You're a great kid!" and told him he's doing great at school and that we're proud of him. I also confessed that he doesn't shift moods as quickly as i do and that I'll work on being more deliberate.

I just hate that he thinks that. We talked about how my job as a mom is to teach him, which means that sometimes I have to correct him at home so he doesn't make the same mistakes later--just like spelling. But that just because I correct things doesn't mean that I don't love him or that he's anything less than a great kid. He's the best, but even he best makes mistakes from time to time.

Does that sound like saying "suck it up"? I tried to be nice about it, but as I think about it, that's really what it was, right? Ugh. Parenting is hard.