Chapter 16 - FELIX ASKS WHY GRANDMA HATES HIM
Children ask at terrible times.
We were at a supervised family-center room for one of my early parenting visits because the court evaluator preferred neutral settings before expanding time.
Felix was building a block tower.
Milo drawing.
Then:
“Why does Grandma hate us?”
I stopped.
Adeline was not in the room, but a family specialist was.
Good.
I did not have to improvise alone.
“She did something cruel.”
“That’s not why.”
“No.”
He waited.
I looked at the specialist.
She nodded slightly.
Age-appropriate truth.
“Grandma was angry at grown-up things between me and your mom. She made bad choices because of that.”
“About us?”
“Yes.”
“Because we’re poor?”
My chest tightened.
“You are not less important because your mom had less money.”
He stared.
“That’s not answer.”
Smart boy.
“Grandma thought keeping me away from your mom was more important than making sure you got everything I was sending.”
His eyes narrowed.
“She kept money?”
“Some money did not reach you. Adults are figuring out exactly what happened.”
Milo looked up.
“Did she buy pearls?”
I almost laughed.
“No idea.”
Then Felix:
“Does she hate us?”
“I don’t know what she feels.”
Good.
No invented inner certainty.
“I know what she did was wrong.”
Then:
“Do you hate her?”
That one.
I looked at the blocks.
“Yes.”
The specialist shifted.
I added:
“Right now, I feel a lot of anger and hate toward her. That is my feeling. You don’t have to feel the same.”
Felix nodded.
Then knocked over the tower himself.
May you like
“Good.”
Apparently enough therapy for one day.
