I’m so mad, I can’t concentrate at work. This morning, while I was dropping the kids off at daycare, I saw a little boy in their class walk over to Eleanor and start strangling her with both hands around her neck. I yelled out, “HEY! HEY!” and one of the teachers picked up the little boy, moved him about ten feet away, and admonished him sternly. He didn’t appear fazed at all though. Now, I have always said that I’m against corporal punishment, but in this case, I don’t think anything but a spanking would have gotten through to this kid. What I really wanted to do was pick him up and give him several good whacks with a wooden paddle (a la Principal Thomas at Westwood Elementary School). In fact, I had to just stand there frozen, in order to control myself.
This little boy is younger than the twins, so really, his “strangling” wasn’t very effective, but like most of the other kids in the class he’s a lot bigger than Eleanor and Miranda. That’s the problem when your kids are “petite”, they get picked on. I know this isn’t the right response, but I almost want to encourage my kids to bite and scratch other kids in the face if they’re provoked. I’m already planning tae kwon do or jiu jitsu classes for them in a couple years.
I’m so sorry that happened…
i’m sorry to say that it’s not uncommon unfortunately. lucas came home from daycare with a big scratch on his face once. last halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch and this older kid came over and wacked him on his head for no reason whatsoever. his caretaker didn’t even apologize to the right person (ie, me or rick). i stood there in shock. when he was younger and we went out and there were other kids, i felt like i was the hen, hovering over him so he won’t get knocked over. sigh… one reason we took him out of commercial daycare place and put him in home daycare. less kids, more attention, less violence.
Take comfort in the fact that the twins will be 10x smarter than the boy, and will have college paid for ;D. But we really are sorry that your kids have to learn at an early age…about being bullied. We believe that learning martial arts is a good thing.
It’s interesting how violence against our children arouses anger that we rarely experience in other situations. I know I have similar feelings myself when other kids try to hurt Sarah. (And if you know me you know that I rarely get mad or raise my voice pre-children.)
At least the twins can stick up for each other. I have a feeling they will help each other if one gets picked on.