To Be the Bad Guy, or Not To Be the Bad Guy… That is the Question

When I work up this morning at 5:30 am, my son was already up. I could tell by how awake he was that he either didn’t sleep, or only slept for a little while and then woke up really early. Usually he sleeps a lot. Like 12 hours. I know, how awesome would it be to actually sleep 12 hours… But I digress. Every couple of weeks, however, he has one of these nights where he doesn’t sleep hardly at all and has energy coming out his wazoo when I get up. Also, he’s cheerful, and ornery. Ugh.

As is customary, when he is like this in the morning, I am the opposite. I am like, “don’t talk to me, don’t touch me, and definitely, don’t shoot nerf darts at me”. Which he did. I almost killed him, then remembered that I am a good Mom and good Moms don’t kill their kids… or so they tell me.

After a couple of hours puttering around the house, eating breakfast, building a makeshift bird feeder, and driving me absolutely crazy, he turns on Youtube. I tell him he can watch one video and then he needs to go ahead and start on his Math homeschool work, even though it’s early for him. About an hour later, I get up to go to the bathroom and he is slumped at his desk chair, passed out. I manage to rouse him enough to get him to bed and promise myself that I will wake him up later, so his sleeping schedule can return to normal.

Here’s the dilemma. I don’t particularly like waking him up, even though I know I should, because he’s cranky and whiny. He’s so peaceful and cute when he sleeps. I just don’t want to interrupt that. He’s fast approaching the teenage years, and I know the cute and peaceful is about to be thrown out like an old toy.

Also, I am always the bad guy in this situation. Some days I just don’t want to be the bad guy. Yes, I’m whiny too sometimes… Still, being the bad guy is rarely fun, especially when I have to deal with the fallout. So, for now, I will let him sleep a little longer. Later tonight I will be the bad guy when he doesn’t want to go to sleep. I’m not looking forward to it, but it is what it is.