There is a girl on the swim team who is 7. Every time I see her she reassures me that no matter how badly my kids behave, there is always another kid out there who is worse.
At the last swim meet, I watched her spit water, repeatedly, at Number 2 and Number 3. Not a huge deal. But they did ask her to stop, multiple times, and she just kept at it.
Let me backtrack and say that I know it’s not actually her fault. I did listen to this exchange she and her mother had recently.
child: “Mom, I can I have some money?”
mother: “No.”
child: “MOM! PLeeease! I want to go to the snack bar!”
mother: “No. You are not going to the snack bar.”
child: “MOM. GIVE ME SOME MONEY!!!”
mother: “No. I said no. No means no.”
child: “Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. WWaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. snort. snort. cough. drool. snort. Whhhhyyyyy???? Hyperventilate. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
mother: “What do you want to buy?”
child: Looks at mother. Immediate cessation of all crying, coughing, snorting and convulsing. “Cotton candy.”
Don’t do it, I said to myself. Don’t do it.
mother: “Okay, what color do you want? Here’s a dollar.”
NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Lady, your kid is a disaster! Please stop doing this!!!
So apparently no doesn’t mean no, and I’m completely aware of the root of the problem.
But it still doesn’t make what the kid does okay.
I have witnessed this child push kids around, grab things out of other children’s hands, and just be plain old nasty.
So I keep her on my radar, and I keep my kids away from her as much as possible in order to avoid any issues. Because I’m running out of restraint, and I don’t want to go off on the kid or her mom.
But I have a feeling it’s coming.
Well yesterday, this child was chasing Number 4 around. I was watching from a distance — too far to really get Number 4’s attention.
I kept watching, and I gradually was moving closer.
Number 4 was trying to get away from her, but that kid was relentless.
And then the kid slapped Number 4 in the face.
I was livid. I wanted to rip her arm off her body and smack her in the face with her own hand.
I resisted the urge to run, but I was now storming in that direction.
“Number 4! Come here!”
Number 4 looked at me. “Hold on Mom, I’m coming.”
Before she ran over to me, she had one last thing to say:
“HEY (child’s name)! Do you know why no one likes you??? BECAUSE YOU’RE ANNOYING!!!”
I love that kid.
I wanted to high five her,
and stomach bump her,
and dump a whole cooler of Gatorade on her head,
and put her up on my shoulders.
Instead, we just held hands and walked away.
But when I do finally lose it and go off on the mom, now I know exactly what to say.
You are a better woman than I. I totally would have said something. Friday there was a kid at the pool hitting all children in sight with a pool noodle. No one was watching him. So after he hit my kid in the head and made her cry I ripped the pool noodle out of his and and told him to stop hitting people. He then proceeded to sulk on the side of the pool for a good 20 + minutes. The whole time I was wondering why no adult was checking on him and wondering why he wasn’t playing. Oh that was because his babysitter or big sister (late teens/maybe 20) was sitting under a pavilion reading. Good thing that family is getting their money’s worth. I applaud you for your restraint. Can’t I borrow some?
Like I said Emily, I can’t restrain myself for much longer…
I’m with Emily, congratulations on your amazing show of restraint! I would have had a hard time not going off on that kid. I can’t stand when little kids are running wild like that with no supervision. Can only blame the parents cos the kids will never know any better…