I was just telling my sorority sisters this story and thought I should blog it...
We were talking about how our kids fight with their siblings. Those of that have more than one, have a preschooler and an infant or toddler who is just now getting strong enough to pick on the older child.
My 3 year old daughter got a taste of her own medicine at the mall this weekend. I took her to the big play area in the middle of the mall and she always makes a new friend. The friend-du-jour was significantly older/bigger than she is and kept pinning C-Shell down and smushing her face in the ground. C-Shell would make eye contact with me at first and wait for me to intercede. I held back at first (I want her to at least try to stand up for herself first) and I told her to TELL HER to get up. That worked a couple times and the other girl got off of C-Shell, but when she started smushing C-Shell's face, I grabbed that little brat by the shoulder and told her to BACK OFF. I felt my face get hot as I looked for her parent(s). The two of them ran off again and on their next lap, the girl pinned C-Shell down again. C-Shell struggled, but I waited until the other girl was genuinely too rough. Grabbed her by the shoulder again, but this time I dug my thumb under her collarbone. “YOU NEED TO STOP. If I see you hitting her like that again, you aren’t going to play with her anymore.” She apologized to me and I said, “Apologize to her.” They both got up and ran around some more. The last straw….she pinned C-Shell to the ground, mashed her face into the ground and covered her nose. WTF!! I pulled her up by her shoulder and hair and didn’t whisper this time. “THAT’S ENOUGH!!” The other moms next to me averted their eyes. “WE’RE DONE. I’M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU ANYMORE..” I spun her around and shoved her forward, “GO FIND YOUR PARENTS!” I told C-Shell, “Get up, we’re leaving.” She marched to the exit and I noticed she had a handprint on her cheek. I scanned all the parents for someone who looked like the other little girl and only saw one person who could be responsible for her. A slobby little guy in the corner on his cellphone. Figures.
But I think it was a good lesson for C-Shell. She learned to stick up for herself, and when that didn’t work, she learned about the wrath of mom.
