Three cheers for DJ3...and an unexpected end to our celebration

 

11:27 a.m.: DJ3 pooped in the potty. This meant we dropped everything and headed out to Chuck E Cheese, for his promised reward. We cheered him, high-fived him, sang to him.

Since it was lunchtime, I sprang for the yucky pizza, too. The restaurant was pretty empty. Just a couple of other customers.

And then a big bus came. And on it were some bigger kids. Some of them liked being there more than others. They all had adults who were extremely interactive and caring of them. I actually had warm fuzzies.

Until.

I was trying to get DJ3 his "prizes" for turning in his tickets. AG9 and NR11 were trying to get my attention. They were obviously unhappy. Something bad happened.

"Mom, the girl in the tubes and slide pulled my hair really hard," AG9 said. "She slapped me in the face," NR11 reported. They wanted justice. Or at least me to talk to someone. I simply asked them what she was wearing, so I could figure out what to do. They kept pointing at her, and loudly said, "That's her. Right there." Right there as well was the girl's chaperone/teacher. She initiated with me to find out what "that girl" did. She was not surprised. She was very sorry, overly apologetic.

And I felt horribly torn. I have no idea what the girl's challenges in life are all about. It didn't appear that the girl thought she had been mean. It didn't appear that by "telling on her" that it would help anything. But my kids felt better after talking to the woman.

While the woman was explaining more about the girl, AC13 finally found me. He had been looking for me to tell me that the same girl had pushed him and scratched him. It was an awkward moment, because the rest of us officially knew the girl was "overly excited" and probably didn't mean harm. Her chaperone/teacher felt horrible that my kids had been hurt by her student. I tried to make her feel better, but she was in a rough place like me.

I want to be there for my kids and defend them and protect them and get justice for them. But this didn't seem like the time or the place for that. The girl wasn't some mean bully who needed to be put in her place. She just didn't know better. And, maybe my kids were overreacting to what she did.

It turned out, the bus was leaving. They were on their way out. But after I took a better look at AC13's face, I decided to show it to the woman. He had a horrible scratch on the verge of bleeding that went from the right of his nose all the way past his eye on his forehead in a circle. It looks quite painful. He says he is fine. He just wanted to be heard.

I was happy to hear their reports regarding what they did after she attacked each of them. They did right even when wrong was done to them. I'm proud of them. I'm happy to see that they're learning more about their world. And how to make it better.