Last night I had my first taste of the school years with Grayson. It was the first time I had seen another kid act ugly to him. It wasn't just an issue of a toddler not wanting to share, it was an instance of a child making fun of my baby. And it hurt my heart. A lot.
Grayson is an observer. He loves to watch the big kids in our neighborhood play sports & skateboard down our street. We actually have fantastic middle school neighbors that play with him on a regular basis & he adores them.
Well, after Griffin goes to bed our summer ritual has been to eat a popsicle outside. G saw some kids skateboarding down our street and wanted to watch them while he ate his treat. I got out his tailgating chair and he plopped down on our driveway. Eyes beaming. He thinks these older boys are so cool.
Well, two of them walk by and keep looking back at him and laughing. Then I see them making fun of how he's eating his popsicle. And how he is sitting in a chair watching them.
I'll be honest and say I wanted to run at them like a spider monkey and tackle their middle school booties to the ground. I mean, seriously. Don't mess with my kid. I didn't tackle them but I did glare at them so much on their way down our hill that I'm pretty sure I burned holes through their heads.
Then I looked at my precious boy. My 2 year old boy. He was still sitting in his chair, happy as a clam, covered in popsicle, & singing preschool songs. He had no idea that anyone had just made fun of him. I wanted to scoop him up right then & there and lock him in our house forever. I never want him to lose that innocence. I never want him to face those mean kids at school. I never want him to cry because someone is acting ugly to him.
But that is part of life. I can't protect him & shield him from the ugly forever. I mean, society might frown upon me never letting my child leave the house...ever. I can just teach him how to handle those situations, love him, & pray for him.
Whew. It's hard loving someone so much that it literally hurts you when they hurt. This growing up stuff is tough!
7 comments:
Bless. That makes my nose tingle. Sweet Grayson. Kids can be so ugly. We've been going through some stuff at school with Easton and it's just so hard knowing what to do, what battles to fight for them and which ones to let them fight on their own. But when you feel like your own heart & soul is uncomfortable, hurting, sad- its such a sick and helpless feeling. Hopefully those boys understood the glare and will be kind to the next child they come across. Hugs momma!
Thanks for making me cry this morning! What little turds. I know exactly how you feel. We want to protect our babies from everything.
Boohiss. I wanna drive down there and tackle those meanies. You eat that Popsicle and sing your songs G!!
What jerks! I'm glad Grayson didn't notice anything. I can't believe they would do that right in front of you...the nerve!
Oh my goodness, this makes me cry. I'm dreading dealing with this.
What kind of older kids make fun of a 2 year old?!!!! I'm so glad he didn't notice!
WHat jerks! You are so much nicer than me because I don't know that I could have ignored that! ha Fenn loves big kids too and tries to play with them on playground etc and they are not always accepting of that, ( one girl poked him with a stick in the belly!) and I was furious! Oh the years ahead! scary!
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