Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Pimp My Ride


Most Wednesdays the Little and i head out to a little playgroup just up the road.
They have ride on toys, balls, blocks, dollhouses, costumes, crafts and a yummy snack every week,
and both he and i almost always have a good time.
When we first started going a few months ago, he was too little to ride on any of the cars.
Instead he would just stand in the middle of the floor and let the bigger kids tear circles around him,
all the while with a huge grin hiding behind the ever present thumb.
Now that he is bigger he can actually ride the cars himself, and is even finally going forward instead of backwards!
Let me just interject here and say that this in itself just shows how fast he is growing,
{sniff sniff sniff.}

But last week, while riding one of those plasma cars (that you just have to wiggle the wheel and it goes,) one of the 
bigger boys pushed him into a corner and made him get off so he could have the car.
I was right there, and was telling him that he couldn't do that, it was Jake's turn and he could have it after.
Of course the boy didn't listen to me, and despite my protests Jake eventually just got off, 
simply because he was backed in a corner and couldn't move. 
The little didn't even seem to mind, and just went to find something else to play with.
 I, however, was furious.

Now i know this is bound to happen over and over in the years to come, both on playgrounds and in school.
However, the fact that i was right there and couldn't stop it made me angry.
What was I going to do?
I wasn't about to wrestle the car away from a little boy, and the fact that i had been defeated by a 
three year old came as a real blow to my ego.
How do parents deal with this sort of thing? Leave them to figure it out on their own?
Get the other parents involved?  What would you do? 
I felt as though he had taken the car from me, not just my little boy, and i have been stewing about it since.

Once Dr. Nails caught wind of this little incident, it was game on.
And the very next day he came home with a car for the Little that no one would ever take away : )







As for that kid at playgroup? Whatevs, he certainly ain't rollin' like this....





8 comments:

Renee said...

OMG!! This makes ME angry and i wasn't even there!!! I have no idea how to deal with this when the time comes! It's hard enough to deal with when it's your own feelings, but when it's your childs it's just a whole other game!! Im curious about how that kids come to bully others, makes me a bit sad! Il be watching for any answers on how to deal with this!!

Renee said...

PS love his new car :)

Anonymous said...

It makes me mad too and we're dealing with the same issue!! I am sure its happening to Isaac much more then I am aware of, as he is in day care 2 days a week! However we had a 4 year old visitor last night and I have to say Isaac was stood his ground!! This 4 year old was trying to grab his own dinkies right out of his hands and Isaac would give them up!! YAY!! Should I even be cheering? Probably not. However, I think this bullying issue it going to be a long standing issue. It's hard when they are Jake's & Isaac's age because either way, if they are getting bullied or doing the bullying... they don't really understand.... yet. Good Luck and I love that you got him his very own Car!! We will get our little's together soon!! Hopefully they behave!! haha!! :o)

~Andrea

Lyndsay D. said...

First of all, that last photo is hilarious! I love that he's sitting in the little trailer and not the car...too cute :)

When things like this happen to us, I get really mad too. But I don't interfere unless someone is going to get hurt.

I always talk to Griff afterward about it and tell him, a) don't ever be THAT kid, and b) if he sees someone being mean to someone else, it's ok to tell a teacher or grown up. I want him to speak up about it because it's not ok. He's almost 5 though, and I think by this age kids understand what's right and wrong on the playground.

Sometimes I do wish he would just step up and push back though (but I didn't say that!)

Libby said...

Sadly, I am that mom that will tell someone elses kid to mess off ... I am not okay with other parents ignoring their kids behaviour! My kids are not angels so they've faced my wrath when they've taken from others - so they very quickly learned to ask nicely and be patient!

Good thing he has his own fancy car now ☺ Nice save!

Anonymous said...

You guys are great parents and the car is super cute !

Sometimes I just like parents to remember that "THAT" child is not terrible and not a bad person and even though they may do some "not nice" things, it's not always good to jump to assuming "that" kid is a bully or the parents are ignoring the behaviour or doing something wrong.

Sometimes there can be things that we don't know about behind the scenes that have nothing to do with parenting. Kids are always going to have sharing problems and kids are going to take from our kids and our kids are going to take from other kids.

Anonymous said...

I think it's important to constantly remind our children that the behaviour is not ok and hurts other people's feelings.

We all do the best we can! :)

From: a very loving mother of "that" child

Anonymous said...

My first building bumps post!

I have a "that" child....sometimes he's a wonderful, thoughtful little guy and sometimes he gets totally caught up in the moment or overwhelmed and makes some bad moves. It makes me kind of sad to hear the bully label thrown out when we're talking about such young kids who are still learning how to behave.

I get upset for my kids' feelings too, it totally stinks when kids are mean. But my heart would break a thousand times over if someone called my guy a bully over a one-off-y incident at this age.

Anyyyyyway. Little Mister is CUTE in his new wheels!!!!!! Lucky little man has some awesome parents going on. :)