What do you think????

At church we sit on the balcony with the kids. There the kids can run around and since the congregation up there is mostly parents and small kids, no one minds the noise these kids create.

Yesterday among others Dan and another boy his age were running around. Each on their own. They never even crossed paths. Suddenly this other boy runs to dan and whacks him on his face- no provocation. Before either Gin or me moved, the other boys mom ran to him, and pulled him off with a very stern look. The boys continued running and after about 5 minutes the same scene is repeated. This time the other boys mom went and carried him off and Gin went and took Dan off too. The other mom was scolding her boy and he was clearly upset. Screaming and hitting the mother. Finally his dad stepped in and took him outside. Daniel was least bothered , I guess mainly because it didn’t hurt him at all.

That is how small kids are. You can never say what is their next course of action. They act without any provocation and there is no point in reasoning with them. Dan has done worst things. He has bitten two little cousins of his. One was very deserving(no, that doent mean that Dan has any right to hurt the child. I agree he was completely wrong) and the other was without the least provocatoion. But I give full credit to the parents of that boy, because they acted as responsible adults and stopped their son and when the act was repeated, firmly put him in his place. Good for them and their son…

Now there was this other mom and son standing in front of me. The boy has a nice sipper with Thomas the engine on it. Dan was quiet fascinated with that. He casually walked, bent down and picked the sipper from the side pocket of that lady’s bag. As Dan’s mom, I know he only wanted to see the engine picture on it and his intention was not to drink from it. While I was moving forward to stop Dan, the lady snatched the bottle away from him and scolded Dan. Yes scolded ,in a very stern and harsh voice . Both Dan and me were quiet taken aback. And dan even froze in his path for a second. For people who know Dan, it is a big feat for my boy to be still!!!!!! What Dan did was not at all acceptable. You cant walk around picking up others stuffs let alone pull things from their bags. But I was there to stop Dan, the lady could see me moving forward to stop him and finally she could have just smiled and taken the bottle away from him. Or maybe quit that scolding session.

And here is what I wonder? Do you think you have the right to scold others kid? I don’t think so. If the said kid is doing some harm to you or yours, and their parents are doing nothing to stop it, maybe you can step in and stop in a nice way. I can very well understand the itch to give a tight slap to those very badly behaved kids, whose parents think stopping them from anything they do is going to affect them “mentally”!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe hitting them is a service you are doing to society. But even there, I belevie only the parents have the right to admonish their kids. I mean, it is none of my business .

With our kids, I wont mind people who are genuinely interested in them scolding them. I should be satisfied that the said person loves my kids enough to wish for their good and that is the reason they are stopping them.

The other day Ans came visiting and dan was at his crankiest best. She stopped or sternly told him no for one or the other things that he was doing. I wouldn’t even look at that side, because I know she loves him enough to do so…..

Don’t you think you must be wondering what right you have to stop a child or rebuke a child, before you jump headlong into it???