|
|
Post by Rhys Moreau on Sept 9, 2014 23:45:38 GMT -5
Rhys shifted uncomfortably. "It's different when it's a foster kid instead of a shelter kid," he said. "With shelter kids I just tell them what I've been through, try to be a friend, you know? I can't really do that with a foster kid...right? I'm supposed to be an authority figure or something."
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 9, 2014 23:50:52 GMT -5
"If you want to be a big, distant authority figure, go for it," Dare said. "My dad was the disciplinarian, but my mom... she wasn't a boss, she was a leader. See the difference? She didn't think we had to be afraid of her to respect her, and that's what I want for my kids. Why not be a friend? As long as you know where the line is, or at least if you can guess, you'll do well. Like, instead of thinking about how to be a parent, think about how to give the kids what they need to grow up. What does he need to turn into a functional adult?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Matthew Moreau on Sept 10, 2014 0:00:59 GMT -5
Matthew watched Rhys, who had fallen silent, but didn't call the man out. "It feels different," he said, forcing himself to look at Dare. "Sure, there are some things everyone needs to be a functional adult, but parents and teachers don't give the kid the same skills, you know? Obviously, I'm fine talking about sex, but I mean, telling Tam about it feels like a harder thing than telling some random kid, or even Andy."
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 10, 2014 0:10:50 GMT -5
"Tam's five," Dare pointed out. "If you get to keep him long enough, it'll probably be easier. Michael and I get to figure things out as we go along. I'm talking out of my ass because I really don't know what to tell you. As a parent, I've got to guess because my kids are still little. As a professor, I've still got to guess, because I just deal with what goes on in class, and whatever I walk in on in the corridors."
|
|
|
|
Post by Rhys Moreau on Sept 10, 2014 0:21:37 GMT -5
"Figuring things out as you go along is a bit easier, though, isn't it?" Rhys asked. "You know the kid's personality and how they react to things. It's not like trying to explain things to someone you've just met." Maybe they weren't ready to adopt, despite how much they wanted to and how much they'd researched and studied.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 10, 2014 0:25:36 GMT -5
"Sometimes it's easier," Dare agreed, "but every time something new comes up we're in the same boat. We've got to figure out what to do, adjust things as they grow. We have three toddlers. An elf and a governess are help keeping the chaos down, but it's still chaos.
"Welcome to parenting."
|
|
|
|
Post by Matthew Moreau on Sept 12, 2014 22:40:34 GMT -5
As though to emphasize Dare's final comment, the fireplace wooshed with a green flame, and two figures stepped out. One was a short boy and the other was an average woman, and they were both holding hands. Somehow, the woman had managed to keep a tray of cookies intact throughout the floo journey. "Hello, Tam, couldn't quite handle being away from the two of you," the woman said, smiling.
Matthew knew that Tam was mostly attached to him, so seeing Rhys probably never even came to the boy's mind, but even after such a short time apart he couldn't help but smile at the boy. He did have the feeling the woman had said the two of you to ensure Rhys was included. "Well, hey, who am I to deny Dare a taste of my mum's cookies, eh?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 12, 2014 23:02:50 GMT -5
Dare chuckled and stood to greet Mrs. Moreau as a certain five-year-old bolted past him with a Hi, Rhys and a loud Matthewwwwww! "We were just talking about parenting," he told her. "I'm a professor at Hogwarts, so I'll be seeing Andy more often than these two."
Dare and Michael weren't the only people who'd spent time as students living off-campus, but it had seemed important to let Andy immerse himself in magic and learn to trust the Moreaus with his brother's care. Maybe the teen needed a weekend back, though.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rhys Moreau on Sept 12, 2014 23:11:43 GMT -5
Rhys stood along with Dare, though Matthew was too busy with Tam's introduction to greet the woman past a brief acknowledgement. The mum gave Dare a brief hug after sending her tray of cookies to rest on the coffee table, but the hug she gave Rhys lingered. Once she broke away from Rhys, she spoke. "Well, I'm sure you'll be a wonderful role model to Andy," she said to Dare, reaching out to pick a bit of lint off his shoulder. "Although, hopefully he isn't as much of a handful as Matthew was." The woman's eyes gleamed as they shifted over to Matthew, who was enjoying the boy's attention.
"If you want to embarrass Matthew, then go ahead," Rhys said. Being around the woman tended to lift his spirits, and this time was no different. "I mean, I've heard all the stories, but I'm sure Dare hasn't." He dodged the dog toy tossed by Matthew, and grinned as Mag chased after it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 12, 2014 23:16:16 GMT -5
"I don't know, do I want to?" Dare teased. He tried to catch Matthew's eye, but the man was already back in dad-mode, so he looked to Rhys. Was Mrs. Moreau someone they could talk to about Andy? Dare really didn't know what to do about things. It had only occurred to him because Andy seemed so withdrawn in general, so shy, which put him in mind of his brother, and the boy had slipped away so quickly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rhys Moreau on Sept 12, 2014 23:22:14 GMT -5
"I mean, I'm sure Matthew doesn't want you knowing about the time I found him wanking on the back lawn, but who am I to tell you what you want to hear?" the woman teased, grinning from ear to ear. She tucked a lock of almost-grey hair behind her ear as her eyes shifted from Dare and Rhys to her biological son.
"Honestly, Dare, she'll tell you anything, whether you want to hear it or not," Rhys said, though the warning certainly came too late. thankfully, Matthew appeared to have Tam too distracted to care about the conversation.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 12, 2014 23:29:42 GMT -5
Tam, as with all kids it seemed, latched onto just the right word at just the right moment and began to ask loudly what it meant. Dare threw a brief, crooked smile at Matthew and let him handle it. For the first time, he was the one saying not my kid, and it felt good.
"I've got three toddlers, so I've been failing to give good advice about raising a teen. I walked in on ah... his brother," Dare said, avoiding names so as not to draw Tam into this new line of conversation, "getting close to another student in a corridor." If you know what I mean. Which she would. "About any other student I'd just let it be, but... this one's got issues I actually know about." Ones it didn't feel right detailing with Tam in the room.
|
|
|
|
Post by Matthew Moreau on Sept 12, 2014 23:37:40 GMT -5
For just a brief moment, Matthew wondered if his mum and Dare had set this up, but he quickly set such thoughts aside. He skirted the word's definition as best he could while encouraging the boy to take a cookie and try his hand at the simple matching game Tam seemed to enjoy on Rhys' computer.
"I can't imagine having three toddlers," Mrs. Moreau said as she made her way around the room. She eyed corners and crevices as though eager to find any and all dust in the flat. "Teens are difficult, as well. Too much control and they rebel, too little and they slack." One child wasn't enough to give her experience with many types of teens, but her friends had given her ample reviews. "A teen getting close to another...well, that just depends on the teen, I suppose." She eyed a finger that has been wiped across a window sill.
|
|
|
|
Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Sept 15, 2014 18:28:49 GMT -5
"This teen reminds me of my brother," Dare said. "He got his girlfriend pregnant their first time, if you believe that. Andy won't have that problem, but there's other stuff, right?" He shrugged. "I don't know much about it. I didn't play the field before I got married." Not sexually, and what little playing he'd done during his and Michael's break hadn't taught him much more than how to use a condom.
|
|
