After about twenty minutes of playing at the play place. The girl kept looking at me then talking to Ava, so Bryce and I strained our ears to listen. She was telling Ava she couldn't go down the slide. Bryce went and talked to Ava and told her she could go down the slide and that it was okay. The girl kept following my three year old and I was getting a little annoyed, so I stuck by Ava's side. When I went back to sit down the girl went to Ava and said go tell your mom to buy us all fries... Ava looked uncomfortable, it surprised me that my little miss sassy pants wasn't saying anything back to this girl. I went over to the girl who referred to herself as "princess" and said " stay away from my daughter.
Well she did, thank goodness and Ava started playing with kids her own age. A few minutes later princess' younger brother who was about six was playing with Ava when suddenly he drops his pants and underwear in font of my daughter. IN FRONT OF MY DAUGHTER. Bryce grabbed Ava and I went and spoke to his Dad. Who happened to be starring at his phone intently and prior was out in the foyer area talking on his phone. Not watching his kids.
He yelled at his son in front of everyone and then the son started crying so he cuddled his son and then yelled at him again and then cuddled him..I don't claim to be a perfect parent and I don't like to tell others how to parent, but I was livid. I was livid about what happened to my daughter and how the dad was responding to his son. As we left I couldn't help but judge the dad and his parenting skills. I felt bad about judging a man I didn't know, but how do you not in that case? I am far from perfect and in rare instances do I actually judge someone...
On the drive home Ava was upset because she thought she did something wrong because we left so quickly even though we explained to her it wasn't her fault. During the drive a million things raced through my mind
1.) Will I ever pull my phone out while we are at a park playing again?
2.) How do I talk to Ava about both incidents?
3.) What would I have done if it was my son?
As for question one I don't know but at this time I have no intentions of doing so. I don't think I have ever been bad at this,Yes I have pulled my phone out numerous times. Yet I still play with and watch my child. Maybe I play with my phone more then I should, maybe I don't play with it as much as I think. I am not sure I have ever judged another parent for playing on their phone while being out and about. I know for myself some days it is my only interaction with the outside world. That being said you should still know where your kids are and who the are playing with at the park and most importantly watching them or playing with them. When other kids are around I usually sit back and let Ava play with them. When it is just her and I we are playing together with few exceptions.
For questions number two we talked about it when we got home. We talked about what happened. Why it was not okay and what we should do if it happens again. We kept it short and simple. but I can assure you we will be talking about good strangers and tricky strangers a lot more. We have already begun talking about people who you listen to and those that you don't. We will be having lots more social stories at our house.
As for question three I would hope that if I was the parent whose child was acting inappropriately I would handle it appropriately. I really hope that it never happens but if it does, I hope I do a good job and teaching my child why it was wrong to do that.
What are your thoughts?
What would you have done?
My Mama Bear claws are a lot sharper, now.
.jpg) |
| This is really my Monster Face that Miss A thinks is hilarious! |
No comments :
Post a Comment