When does it get easier?

Vision therapy homework lasted

Over 30 minutes

Which means she’d fought me tooth-and-nail whenever something was hard

So when she gave up on the balance exercises

I walked away

Our fight felt soul-crushing

Even though I didn’t raise my voice

Or utter anything I later regretted

I walked away

Rather than screaming

And that’s when she began to cry

And yell

At me

What should I do now?

Who else will help me if you don’t?

I can try again!

But it was too late

You’ve yelled at me so many times.

I don’t like it when you scream at me.

I’m finished working with you today.

She yelled at me for awhile longer

Until she noticed I was going to remain unresponsive and unflustered

What would you like to eat?

Yogurt and apple juice.

I set both on the table

And she sat immediately

I grabbed a Muuna from the fridge

A spoon from the drawer

And began eating at the island

A few minutes later

A small voice asked a question

Will you come sit with me?

I softened

As she de-escalated the tension between us

So I sat

We chit-chatted

Until she complained of being cold

She went in search of a sweater

That wasn’t there

So I offered her my lap

She crawled in with her juice cup

You know I love you, right?

Yes, I know.

I don’t want to fight with you about vision therapy. I want to help you get through this quickly so reading and writing aren’t so hard for you.

I know, Mommy.

May I read you a book you might connect with before bed tonight?

What’s it called?

Thank You, Mr. Falker. It is about a little girl who had trouble reading, but worked hard to overcome the problems she had and went on to become an author and illustrator.

I’d like that.

We walked away, hand-in-hand, in search of the book

Which she later asked

to keep in her book nook

After we read it together

Together

we will get through this

We always have

But with just four weeks of vision therapy so far

This journey promises to be rough