My "Mama Bear"

So Noah and I were at a play date. It was a fun, I love play dates! You get adult conversation and the kids get to play with other kids. What’s not to love? Noah is four months away from being 3 years old. We have had a ton of play dates and not much has ever gone wrong.

This time things went wrong.

I yell at another person’s kid. Yup I crossed that line.

I felt so bad. I’m not the kind of person who yells that other people’s kids. I’m not the kind to parent someone else’s child. But I had become that person that day.

Here’s what made me snap on this little boy:

Noah is 2 years old and can be an annoying little bug sometimes, even to a 4 year old. And I usually will be the first to put Noah in his place. But this time the little boy was being mean to Noah. Just directly mean. Not letting him have toys and then it came down to the taunting & teasing. We were getting ready to leave and Noah was not happy. He was crying and just so sad. The boy was in front of Noah telling him about how he gets to stay there. Imagine in a mimicky singsongy teasing way.

I about had it. I told the kid that he was mean and to stop and that I wasn’t bringing Noah back ever. Imagine in a mean stern mama bear way.

My mama bear came out. I had a bully in kindergarten. There was this mean little classmate that would take my bag of chips and crush them up. Everyday. Now that I’m 23 years old, I still remember it.  It hurt my feelings. It doesn’t seem like anything big but I was a child and it affected me. 

I have since apologized for the way I reacted. I will not accept my child being bullied and will correct another child if I see fit but I don’t want to cross the line. That’s not okay.

Be kind to others.