Reborn

Chapter 3

The first few months was very tricky. I really didn't know how to take care of a six year old, I

was still kind of a child myself. But I decided to wing it, and see what happens. There was a

lot that I had to work around, and at that moment, I kept hearing my mother's voice.

Everything that I did for Darius from that moment was an echo of how my mother raised my

brother and I. I decided that the best way to approach him would be to become his friend.

That way I can find out what he is like as a person and what makes him tick. He is only 6

years old, I know that. But growing up, I never wanted to be treated like a child, I wanted to

be treated like a person, so I decided to go with my gut instinct and do just that.

Darius is a very sweet and reserved child. He spoke when he was spoken to and he has a lot

of respect. But for some reason, his personality didn't seem kosher to me. Certain incidents

started standing out.

Firstly, Darius hated wearing shoes at home. Any kind of shoes, even sandals. And I so hated

that. So, that became area number one. Getting Darius to wear shoes at all times. I know it

probably seems odd, but that was how I was raised.

Darius is a really intelligent child, first in his grade every term but something seems to be

lacking. This poor child wasn't taught simple things that we all learnt growing up.

Manners is one of the things this child didn't know. And say didn't know because he really

didn't. How did this child get to grade two without knowing simple manners? And its

shocking, really it is because you would give him something and he wouldn't say thank you.

Not because he is a rude child, he was just never taught to say please, thank you and sorry.

I really had my work cut out for me but he is such an adorable child, it didn't seem like hard

work at all. Best part was that he listened, you could sit and talk to him for hours and he

listened. I started calling him my small man, because that was exactly what he was. A little

man. He is so mature for his age. He could converse with me on my level and ended up

having a good few intelligent conversations.

So, we started getting the manners thing down to a "T". I felt like I was making progress. My

days were really full. I get home from work, sit and help Darius with his homework (Sean

helped whenever he was not working, so we had turns), have supper. Clean up the kitchen,

get everything ready for the next day (uniforms, take out something for lunch), have a

shower, go to bed.

Sean's mother is a big help, she does the cooking and makes our lunches, so I can sleep in a