Thursday, July 31, 2008

5 hours of sleep, 2 cups of coffee & Monkey Joes

Boy have I had a day.
First of all I went to bed way too late this morning, because I was online too long. So when I got up after a few hours of sleep, I had to have coffee. Now, I really only drink coffee when it's cold outside, which, it is far from. OR,I drink it when I am tired. The coffee was so good, I had to have 2 cups. Then the plan for the day was to meet my friend Michelle & her 2 boys, for lunch & then go to Monkey Joes (an indoor inflatble place). With the plan in place I decided not to eat breakfast, the coffee had filled me up enough. Fast forward a few hours, I leave the house with the 3 kids, stop by the library. The kids got a free Chick-fil-a kids meal & a book for the summer reading program & today was the last day to turn it in. When we left the library Michelle called & said let's save time & let the kids have pizza at Joe's. So by the time I got there, I was so hungry & jittery, I could barely unbuckle Ella. Did I mention it had started pouring rain? So we go in & the kids are off to play. I immediately ate a huge pretzel & a piece of pizza. I started to feel better & relaxed while the kids played. Then it happened...
The angry, angry mother, of a 5 year old boy. She was carrying her sniffling child toward me, but Michelle & Alex were ahead of her with Michelle rolling her eyes & Alex with a look of sorrow.
Michelle quickly told me Alex scratched the kid in the face, before the mother started in talking very loudly.
momzilla:"HE SCRATCHED HIM IN THE FACE & THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE"
I become jittery again & I ask Alex did u scratch him?
Alex: "somebody pushed me down"
momzilla: "he didn't even apologize" "Look at this, look at his face"
I look & see a small scratch
me to the mom:"I'm sorry" then to Alex:" why would you do that? You don't"
I couldn't even say much to Alex with this lady talking in my face, while I'm trying to handle it. So needless to say I get very angry with her & flip on her. Well, you know, for me I flipped.
I looked at her & said "you know what, I don't know what to tell ya, I said I'm sorry, what do you expect me to do, you want me to jerk him out of here, pull his pants down & beat him. Would that make you feel better? You sure don't look like the type that believes in spanking"
momzilla:"No, I just want him to apologize"
Alex is crying saying he did apologize, I'm saying he got pushed down when he accidentally scratched him. Then she tells me she didn't even really see what happened, her friend did & she told her how it went down. Oh, and here comes an employee to break it up. We both ignored her & kept on talking loudly at each other. Eventually, I wrapped it up & told her to get over it, he apologized, it was an accident, & I'd deal with him, but get out of my face. So she went to sanitize the scratch & apply neosporin. :((Wah Wah.
I made Alex sit out for 15 minutes then he went on to play. The momzilla left after some first aid. Thank goodness. But it took me a good 30 minutes to calm down, but then I got fired up again when I told Jody the story.
So here is the question: If it was your child that was scratched, how would you handle it?
A) Get on to the kid yourself (Hey, you don't scratch people. That's not nice, you need to apologize.) Then don't let your kid near him the rest of the time.

B) Just leave

C) Grab both kids & go confront the other mother. Which could be handled 2 ways.
1. Hey just wanted you to know your son, scratched my son. I figured you'd appreciate knowing.
2. Your son scratched mine, now I'm gonna stare at you or yell at you till you have the response I want.

Let me know what you think. I know everyone has different parenting styles, & your friend's tend to match up with your style. But I personally would have never approached the other mother. One day mommy won't be there to help you out. How will the child handle himself then, if he isn't taught that. Now I'm not saying let your child be a bully either. He shouldn't be allowed to hurt others physically or emotionally. If Alex was in fact a bully, he wouldn't be going to Monkey Joes. Because what better place to push kids around? That is bully heaven. JMO
What's your opinion.

3 comments:

Jessica Smith said...

oh my goodness Kim you have had a day! that was crazy that his mom did that. i mean they're kids! it's not like he broke his arm or something. i think if she was really upset about it she should have just come up to you and told you that Alex scratched her son and then let you do your job as a mom and handle it.
i hope you guys are doing well!

Hollie said...

You did the right thing. Stuff happens and kids get hurt!!!

Anonymous said...

NICE! :)
Ok so what would I do? If it were my girls I (who I know are not the intentional harming type) I would make them say sorry, and leave it at that. Drama!
Oh you said something about a library. Is there a good one around here? H