Life Lessons can be Really Tough...

I learned a tough lesson today... you can't protect your kids from everything. And it sucks! We live in a very condensed neighborhood, in which there are hundreds of homes in a sqare mile.. I call it the trailerhood... but if you know about putting tons of teens in a close radius, you can understand what happens on rare occasions.

There's a family a few doors down that have a couple of boys similar in ages to mine. Those boys aren't the nicest or the most common-sense-using kids around. I won't tell you why I say that, but suffice to say that they've been in trouble and aren't all that well liked among my boys' friends. Anyway, one of them has taken it upon himself to start talking trash to my sons about my younger son. This has been going on for a week or more.. of course I didn't know until last night, but you know how teenage boys are, I never know anything! So on the bus today something was said by this particular boy and of course my son stands up for his little brother (way to go kiddo!). The kids all get off the bus and the bus drives away. That was the moment that the other boy chose to apparently try to beat up my kid. Now, I didn't witness this, all I have to go on is hearsay, and I don't know whether to be appalled or proud.

My son is not big, but he's pretty tough. He plays football and can take a hit like the bigger boys. This other boy isn't any bigger than my kid. The other kid decided to punch my son in the face and grab hold and punch him repeatedly in the back. My son fought back and punched him. In the face. More than once. The other kid gave up. Like I said... appalled or proud... maybe a little bit of both.

But seriously, I hate violence. I hate that my son had to defend himself with his fists. I hate that my boys have been bullied for days or possibly weeks by a kid who doesn't have the sense to know that it's not nice or wise to be bullying other kids. Kids like mine who are well-liked and have champions in others and in each other. This world is crazy and I can't protect them forever. This is a hard lesson for any mom to learn. This mom really learned it today, and I hate it.

But I love my kid. He's my champion. He stuck up for his little brother. He defended himself against a bully. And he shoveled the driveway. What more could a mom ask for????