Today we went to the MOA, and while there to the aquarium. They have a new play area and it has kind of a strange layout. The kids like it but it's not easy for adults to get in there. We're nearby, less than twenty feet away but the kids have quite a bit of autonomy while playing. All to the good; I'm working very hard not to be a helicopter parent.
So while we there today Relia came back to me with a sock in one hand. She said that a boy had taken it off of her. I quickly put it back on and told her if she didn't want to play with him, she should simply stay away. She went back into the maelstrom.
A couple of minutes later she ran back and fell and the boy got on top of her. I fought off protective dad urges so I could see what happened. She told him to get off twice and he didn't. They were close enough that I leaned in and said, "Kid, you should get off of her. She asked you to." He did so right away. Don't think he knew how to feel about me, I tried to be firm but not threatening.
She ran off again and he didn't chase. For a few minutes at least. Then he was after her and she was laughing and laughing. They circled around and around for a few minutes until I warned them to stay clear of other people. Which they did. A few minutes later I gave her a two minute warning and soon we were off. Before she left she told her new friend goodbye.
As I was putting her shoes on she started to complain about him chasing her. I asked her if she knew why he chased her. She said no so I told her it was because he thought she was cute. She didn't know what to do with that info. So I asked her if she enjoyed playing with him. She looked thoughtful and then said, "I really liked it when he chased me".
Daughter mine, you have some playground lessons coming up.
2 comments:
Everyone in my house knows that if a boy picks on you it's because he likes you.
Frankly, this is my own internal garbage, but just reading that made my skin crawl. Just goes to show how little I know about being a girl. Blech.
Post a Comment