Park bullies

Today we had a little experience at the park that left me shaking. After we got home safe and sound and once Elijah and Sammy were buckled in their chairs and eating dinner, I retreated into the bathroom to cry for a few minutes.

We were at the park, swinging. I was pushing both boys and they were giggling and having a great time. There were four or five older kids playing on the playground equipment pretty roughly with one another, so I was hoping Elijah wouldn't ask to go down the slide. Just as I had that thought, I saw a little boy (about 7 or 8 years old) tackle a girl (about 6) to the ground and put her in a choke hold. Hmmmmm. I had the thought that maybe they were siblings and if that was the case I would give him a pass. A few minutes later, though, I heard this same kid ask the same little girl how old she was. Ok, so they didn't even know each other. Red flag.

Elijah said, "I want to go down big green slide!" Oh boy. "Ok, sweetie, let's go quick." I got E out of his swing and he ran over to the playground and crawled up to the slide, in between kids darting past him. I grabbed Sam and we stood just below where Elijah was sitting at the top of the slide. I encouraged him to come down, but I knew that with all the kids around, he would hesitate. And he hesitated. A few minutes went by and one of the kids came up to him RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and pushed him in the chest. HIS CHEST. His chest. Do not touch my boy's chest. It wasn't a hard push, but enough that I said, "HEY! EXCUSE ME! THAT IS NOT OK!" The three boys that were up with Elijah looked down at me like I was crazy. I said, "Where do you guys live?" One of the boys said, "Don't you wish you knew!" Wow. I said, "Nice respect, guys. Elijah, come down right now."

Of course it is not ever ok to tell Elijah to promptly perform a task that causes him anxiety. So, with Sam in my arms, I ran up the equipment and grabbed Elijah with my free arm. Meanwhile, Bully #2 was crawling up the slide so that we couldn't go down it. This is when I realized that I was being bullied by a 7-year-old. Awesome. I put Elijah on my lap and the three of us went down the slide, just missing hitting the bully (wouldn't have cared if I would have hit him). Elijah had NO IDEA that anything was amiss (aside from the chest shove), and wanted to "pway wif kids!" I pulled on his sweet little arm until we reached our stroller. He fought me the whole way, not understanding what was going on. When we got home I explained to him that I wasn't upset with him, but that those kids weren't being very nice. He gave me such a surprised look, like, Really?! I wanted to play with them!

Once we were home, I kept thinking of what I should have done differently. Should I have called the police? Should I have demanded that they tell me where they lived? Should I have stayed and followed them home? I don't know what I should have done, but in the moment I felt threatened by three young boys and wanted nothing but safety. I am in disbelief that such young people were so incredibly disrespectful and mean. It makes me sad for what my boys may have to face. I hope you all understand where I'm coming from when I say this, but...I especially worry about Elijah.

We hear all the time about bullying and how terribly out of control it has gotten. It's such a heartbreaking thing. Just another thing for this mama to worry about!

And by the way, I hope next time Dan is with us at the park when we see those kids (that's my second wish, next to never seeing them again). Hopefully the mean teacher in him will come out and he'll put a little fear in their heads.