Isla and I were having a blast at the Children's Museum today until a nasty little boy, about her age, came up and hit Isla out of the blue. Poor Isla looked stunned and wasn't sure what to do. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to do either! I really wanted to sucker punch that kid and run away with my child, but I comforted Isla and led her to a nearby ball pit. She seemed to immediately forget her vicious attack, but then moments later the kid ran over to the ball pit and started throwing balls at her! One of them was a little wooden ball and it hit her right on the head! Now at this point I'm FUMING. Isla gets her pouty lower lip and gives me this look like, why is he doing this to me?? Thankfully, his mom noticed the last ball he threw, and ran over and removed him from the area. No apologies or anything though! What are you teaching your child lady?! I make Isla apologize (well technically I apologize for her) any time she accidentally hurts someone (Isla has yet to intentionally hurt anyone!).
Anyway, my heart literally ached seeing Isla get hurt like that. I know it's only a taste for what is to come. As much as I want to, I can't always protect Isla from mean kids and getting her feelings hurt, but I wish I could!
The great thing about kids is how resilient they are! After a few hugs and assuring her that she didn't do anything wrong...she was back to her happy self. And just to prove how awesome my kid is: A few minutes later we ventured into the music room and Isla grabbed a few mallets to use on the various instruments. A little boy walked in wanting to play but there were no mallets left. I asked Isla to share with the little boy and she walked right up to him and said, "There you go" and gave him one of hers. She didn't argue with me, she didn't selfishly refuse, she was more than happy to share! Of course, moments like this make me extra proud to be her mama.
My kid is awesome. And she is super cute too!
3 comments:
Oh man, she's adorable! That picture couldn't be cuter. And what a sweet story of her sharing! I'm glad she was able to forget those incidents with that mean boy - seriously, some parents could use a lesson in actual parenting!
I agree with Lisa, some people maybe should think twice before stepping into parenthood! Oh well - you can't do anything about the mean kids. And way to go Isla for sharing, that can be a sticky subject when it comes to 2 year olds. Also, love the picture of her, I don't think she could be any cuter!
It's so hard, we had a very similar incident at, amazingly, the Children's Museum here in St. Paul just this last weekend. Two little boys were both just hard core rough with Gus. One kid physically picked him up and moved him away from the little exhibit Gus was playing with so he could play. I was sort of just observing from afar, my first instinct was to go full on mama bear and rage after this punk kid, but then I took note of Gus's face, which was kind of like a bemused, "huh? that was weird. whatever, I'll play with this instead" look, and realized I needed to lay off. The second time this same kid did something to Gus, his mom saw, and swooped in a scolded him. I was just glad Gus never got upset.
But yeah, it's really easy to love your own kid, even when they act like little neanderthals, but other kids? Not so easy. ;) Even if it is so just their age. I mean really, the concept of sharing with Gus is still totally over his head. We do what they say, model the good sharing behavior, talk about it, but still, if a 2 year old wants something, usually he'll just take it. Plain and simple, and I'm not going to pretend that's not Gus's M.O. as well. :)
But you're right, this is just a taste for what is to come, because at some point they won't be toddlers, they will be little 1st graders, or 5th graders, who are being purposely left out of games, or not invited to birthday parties, or made fun of. OH MY GOD. I just don't know how I will deal with that stuff. Keep Gus in a bubble forever? Homeschool all the way through college? Hmmm... ;)
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