Mama bear

Since becoming a mother I have learned the intense feelings that come with trying to protect your child. I admit glaring and having words with a 2 year old who pushed a cute, toddling one year old Rex, who landed smack on his head, at a play area in the mall. I also admit to telling a girl at a park who was lecturing my son for laying on top of a drain at a park with a water feature to not touch my son after she grabbed his face to see if he was listening to her. Um no he isn't lady, he has been taught not to talk to strangers!

Last week mama bear reared her ugly head again.

I can handle almost anything but someone laying a hand on my child to discipline, teach a lesson to or to hurt. I am ok with a little lecture. I know my kids aren't perfect angels. But the minute a hand is laid on my child inappropriately, all heck breaks loose. Normally I am a pretty passive aggressive person. Not something I like to admit. I don't confront people that I feel have wronged me very often, I usually just whine to Mark about it. Then, he of course tells me to confront the person and more often than not I don't and I carry a grudge for awhile. It's not healthy, but I am aware of it. That is until you mess with my offspring.

We have a neighbor who for lack of a better word is a little anal. His yard is perfect, not a weed, mowed at least twice a week with completely straight lines, you get the idea. He decided to put a brick path from his garage to the backyard last week. He had the area cut out perfectly, with not a speck of dirt out of place. Rex and his grandson who lives with them are good friends so when he wanted to go out and play with him last week, I made sure Rex understood VERY clearly not to go on the dirt. I knew this guy would freak out if he did and I don't trust him when he is angry because I have seen how he behaves when he is angry with his grandson. There were 4 boys playing on their driveway and this man came out from the back of the house and noticed that one of the boys had driven their scooter in the dirt and made a tire mark. I was watching out the window at the time and saw him get this crazy look in his eye and start yelling at the boys. They of course were all petrified, but one of them squeaked out that the man's grandson had done it. So the guy was already pissed. He starts to smooth out his precious dirt, when Rex caught sight of a bug (he told me later) and ran over to the grass right next to the dirt path. Never once did he touch a speck of that dirt. The guy flipped out and grabbed him and yanked him across the grass back to the driveway very aggressively and started yelling at him. I FLIPPED out! I ran outside immediately and told Rex to come here and go inside. He comes running across the street, crying his eyes out, obviously traumatized and I took him inside. He was asking me why he grabbed him, etc. I told him because he was a jerk. Not the best move on my part but I was angry! Rex had left his scooter there so I went back out to retrieve it. I calmly told him as I grabbed the scooter that he is not allowed to ever lay his hands on my child and if it happened again I would call the police. The guy never said anything. I got back home and immediately called Mark and told him what happened, as I am shaking and crying. I think I said something about that being so wrong and Rex yells outside, "My mom says you're wrong." Oh great, that'll help the situation. I start lecturing Rex about how that was inappropriate and that we don't talk to adults like that and the doorbell rings. Of course it is him and he says, "That was inappropriate!" I told him yes it was and I was taking care of it but that what he did was unacceptable and that if he has a problem with my child he can come talk to me about it. He tells me that I can't control my child and I tell him that just because my child isn't afraid of me like his grandson is afraid of him doesn't mean I can't control him. We exchanged a few other not so nice words and I shut the door. I was livid the rest of the afternoon.

Mark came home and immediately went over there to talk to him. He is good and being calm in situation's like this. Got the guys side of the story and calmly told him that he isn't allowed to touch Rex and to come talk to us if he is upset about something Rex did. Mark seemed cool with the outcome and so I was fine with it, although I am still pretty mad at the guy and probably will be for awhile. Mark and I have decided that Rex can't play on their property because we just can't trust this guy to keep his temper in check.

Rex has taught me quite a few lessons during this whole thing and I am very proud of him. Sunday he saw the guy outside and asked us if he could go apologize to him. I personally don't think he had anything to apologize for but I would never tell him he couldn't apologize so Mark took him out there. He is forgiving of what happened and even said hi to him when he saw him outside today. This is why I am confident that we are raising our children to the best of our ability, regardless of what a neighbor might think. Such a good lesson to me, but my old and hard heart will take a little longer to get to that point.

So who else out there has a mama bear side to them?