Let me set the scene.
We had a school fundraiser at a restaurant last night. It's a restaurant/pub owned by the McMenamin Brothers and their spaces are popular in our part of the world. (They take old buildings, renovate them and turn them into cool pubs/movie theatres/hotels. Nice!)
So here we are, adults and children, hanging out in the patio dining area having a good time. (Well, it is a little stressful because the children want to run around and play.) This is the 3rd year that our school has had a fundraiser here and the wait staff must lose a bet to get this shift. I feel so-o-o sorry for them.
So, every parent is doing their best to watch their kids and remind them to be careful, stop picking the flowers, no running ("A basic nightmare" according to my husband.) My 2 girls are doing pretty well I think. I'm sitting at a table full of parent/friends and we're all watching each others children. Everythings hunky-dory.
All of a sudden one of the children comes to me to tell me my 7 year old is crying in a corner. I go find my Lily and she is in hysterics. My little girl wearing her special party dress and tiara is bawling and I can't get her to tell me what happened!
Her sweet little friend filled me in. It seems a parent came upon a situation where she felt her son was being played with too hard and this parent shook her finger in my daughters face and yelled at her to start acting the way she was dressed. "You should behave like the princess you're dressed as." (As quoted from a 7 year old.)
This little friend told me that Lily wasn't doing anything and was just standing by when this parent came up to her and said this.
I'M FUMING!!! I'M RAGING!!!!
I won't tolerate bullying from children, don't get me wrong. If my child is being hurt in any way I'm a MommaBear. However... I will not rage on a child. I will go to the parent of the child and make them aware of what's going on. Probably with that child in tow.
How DARE this woman! And the thing is I don't know her! I'm incredibly involved in this school and I don't know this woman. So I spent the rest of the evening a.) trying to calm my daughter down so she will stay with her friends and play so the evening can be a fun memory for her and b.) trying to calm myself down so I can find this woman and have a WORD with her.
Can you imagine yelling at a 7 year old girl whose wearing a tiara holding a fistful of flowers? At a school fundraiser?!? Why-oh-why didn't this woman come to me?!?
#!@%&*
I just don't get people.
Whew...
And (how's this for a segue?!) I have a way to work out some of this tension. I'm going to try to vacuum my house with my stupid, doesn't-work-very well, vacuum. I haven't had a good vacuum cleaner in years and Mama's Losin' It is having a contest for a brand-spankin' new Hoover. Go see how pretty it is! And if you enter, good luck to ya'! (Honestly ;-> )
We had a school fundraiser at a restaurant last night. It's a restaurant/pub owned by the McMenamin Brothers and their spaces are popular in our part of the world. (They take old buildings, renovate them and turn them into cool pubs/movie theatres/hotels. Nice!)
So here we are, adults and children, hanging out in the patio dining area having a good time. (Well, it is a little stressful because the children want to run around and play.) This is the 3rd year that our school has had a fundraiser here and the wait staff must lose a bet to get this shift. I feel so-o-o sorry for them.
So, every parent is doing their best to watch their kids and remind them to be careful, stop picking the flowers, no running ("A basic nightmare" according to my husband.) My 2 girls are doing pretty well I think. I'm sitting at a table full of parent/friends and we're all watching each others children. Everythings hunky-dory.
All of a sudden one of the children comes to me to tell me my 7 year old is crying in a corner. I go find my Lily and she is in hysterics. My little girl wearing her special party dress and tiara is bawling and I can't get her to tell me what happened!
Her sweet little friend filled me in. It seems a parent came upon a situation where she felt her son was being played with too hard and this parent shook her finger in my daughters face and yelled at her to start acting the way she was dressed. "You should behave like the princess you're dressed as." (As quoted from a 7 year old.)
This little friend told me that Lily wasn't doing anything and was just standing by when this parent came up to her and said this.
I'M FUMING!!! I'M RAGING!!!!
I won't tolerate bullying from children, don't get me wrong. If my child is being hurt in any way I'm a MommaBear. However... I will not rage on a child. I will go to the parent of the child and make them aware of what's going on. Probably with that child in tow.
How DARE this woman! And the thing is I don't know her! I'm incredibly involved in this school and I don't know this woman. So I spent the rest of the evening a.) trying to calm my daughter down so she will stay with her friends and play so the evening can be a fun memory for her and b.) trying to calm myself down so I can find this woman and have a WORD with her.
Can you imagine yelling at a 7 year old girl whose wearing a tiara holding a fistful of flowers? At a school fundraiser?!? Why-oh-why didn't this woman come to me?!?
#!@%&*
I just don't get people.
Whew...
And (how's this for a segue?!) I have a way to work out some of this tension. I'm going to try to vacuum my house with my stupid, doesn't-work-very well, vacuum. I haven't had a good vacuum cleaner in years and Mama's Losin' It is having a contest for a brand-spankin' new Hoover. Go see how pretty it is! And if you enter, good luck to ya'! (Honestly ;-> )