A bully is here!
Anya and I went to the playground downstairs. Like we usually do soon after Anya’s breakfast. Normally there’s hardly anybody else around, which is great, because Anya then gets to play on the slide by herself. No bigger kids running around. No chance of anyone stomping on Anya’s tiny fingers or pushing her off the slide.
This time round there’re two other kids. A girl and a boy. The 2-year-old boy followed Anya wherever she went. Anya seemed to like his company too. They patted each others’ hands, waved, smiled, talked in a baby language. I stood and watched with a grin on my face. It was cute.
Now, the other girl was not half as nice though. She’s probably about two and a half years old and she was there with her grandma.
Anya was on the steps when she came to her, slapped Anya’s back and screamed ‘Go!’. Anya got pretty confused and I – though pretty surprised with what I just saw – maintained my cool and smiled. Ah, kids do these things and it’s okay, or so I thought. But she didn’t stop after that. She did a few other things to Anya and got her pretty scared.
The kid obviously didn’t know how to be sorry for the nasty things she’s done. Out of the few times she ‘bullied’ Anya, even the grandma herself never said sorry to us.
*Sigh*
Where have manners and courtesy gone to these days?
Kids tend to follow how we adults behave. Things we do. Things we say. How we say them. Kids observe all these whether we want them to or not.
I know it’s not easy to always do the right thing 24 hours a day. But I guess the least that we parents should do is to give our best. I believe it’s part of our character-building too.
PS: After the incident, I do wonder about HOW I should’ve reacted if similar incidents were to happen again to Anya. Do I let her learn how to fend for herself? Do I step in and remind the other kid?
On one hand, I’d like to give Anya a bit more space to learn the harsh reality of life. You know, to figure things out herself. To find out how her world is not all about kind and nice people.
On the other, I feel as a Mom (taking into consideration Anya’s tender age right now) I may need to come to her rescue (though not immediately, I guess).
Definitely something for me to think about.
