Believe in Your Block of Wood

At the beginning of the movie Magorium gives his assistant - Mahoney - a block of wood. She takes the block and doesn't know what to do with it. The movie goes on - I won't give away too much! She does discover what to do with the block of wood!

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I think we as parents can compare that block of wood to our pre-teens (middle school) and teenagers (Teens, hang in there with me for a second!). If you have a child in this age range you know what I'm talking about. They stop communicating with you (have you tried talking to a block of wood?!). They won't share any emotions with you - no joy, sadness, laughs (when was the last time you saw a block of wood laugh). They lock themselves in a room for hours at a time (there is something else in the middle of that block of wood). But if you believe in that block of wood - believe that it will be something wonderful, maybe even magical - it can happen. If you trust that block of wood, trust that they will make the right choices - they may have to fall down or fail at something but aren't we all better individuals when we learn from our mistakes - they will grow and be better adults from us letting them experience life and trusting them. Keep pulling that block of wood into the family meal and discussions. Make Sunday night the family sit down meal of the week. Get everyone to share their calendars for the upcoming week. That could spark discussion on what is going on in the block of wood's life - eliminating the fight later in the week when the block of wood wants to go somewhere. Enlist the siblings to help get the block out of their room or maybe into their room to share some quality sibling time. If all of your children are at the block of wood stage - I'm at a little loss there! Just keep engaging them. Keep trying, keep believing in them. Someone believed in you not that long ago and it worked.