FIRSTS: Violence

At the library today, Baby J attempted to interact with a little boy about her age. This little boy, however, didn't want anything to do with her and started shreiking as she approached. Apparently, Baby J thought these shreiks were shouts of encouragement and continued her advance. The little boy reached out and knocked her down, shreiking like an angry chimpanzee. Baby J started to cry.

I consoled Baby J while the offending tot was quickly admonished by his embarassed mother. It was a bad scence.

Baby J cheered up pretty quickly though and, apparently thinking it was all water under the bridge, approached the angry, young man several times more. He shreiked again each time and each time I plucked her up and placed her elsewhere.

There were strange force at work in my mind when it all happened. It went something like this:

Reason:

"All babies have to learn social skills through these kinds of unfortunate interactions."

VS.

Reaction:

"Hey! Don't be such a freakin' jerk, kid!"

Education:

"If someone knocks you down, pick yourself up. There's no shortage of unpleasant people in the world. You can't let them get you down."

VS.

Protection:

"Touch my daughter again, little man, and see what happens! I will end you!"

Shame:

"I should have stepped in before the kid got violent. I'm a bad daddy."

VS.

Blame:

"That kid's a raging psychopath! It's his family's fault! They're probably a bunch of jerks too."

Kids will all eventually end up on both sides of a situation like this. It's sad but true. Not every kid is super nice all the time. Not every kid is super bad all the time. All we can do as parents is try to teach them how to deal with their emotions when they come and to model how to behave when bad things go down.

But if that little boy starts something again, he better watch out. I'm teaching Baby J to fight dirty!