Yesterday afternoon, I took my two daughters to a Halloween festival in a nearby community center. The event was well coordinated with both indoor and outdoor activities including games, arts and crafts and even a few rides. We began our exploration by walking around outside where my older daughter, Big Sister (BS) noticed several moon walks, you know those inflatable things that kids like to jump in? The first one that caught her eye was shaped like an airplane. She really wanted to go in so I let her. My mistake! She came running out crying 2 minutes later saying that two girls started verbally abusing her, calling her a "Baby" and punching her in the stomach. I was outraged, but remained calm on the outside. I asked her to show me the two girls (still inside) when she saw them again.
My mistake was letting my child go inside something that was enclosed. I couldn't see her or protect her.
Next, my daughter wanted to go on the pumpkin-shaped moon walk which was very open and had a monitor carefully watching the children. As she stood in line, two little girls (twins)approached, around the age of 6-7, completely unsupervised, pointing and laughing at my daughter. I went up to them, kneeled down to their level and said, "Do you see that litle girl over there? She is my daughter and don't you dare hit her again." I asked them if they understood. With that, they took off running. I looked over at BS who gave me the thumbs up and smiled.
We continued to enjoy the festivities, but when it was time to go, we spotted the twins again eating cotton candy and standing with a man, presumably their father. I heard them say, "Theres the little girl." The man heard and said, "Oh, do you know that little girl?" That's when I stepped in and said, "Yes, they do know her. They were hitting her before in the airplane moon bounce." The man seemed surprised, reprimanded them and made them apologize. I thanked him and walked away.
Lessons learned: Never let your child go inside anything alone unless you can clearly see them from the outside.
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3 comments:
Wow, how awful for your daughter. I'm sure she loved it that you stood up for her! Good lesson for us mom's to learn! Thanks for sharing your story.
That stinks. Good for you for talking to both the twins and the dad. Sounds like you handled it wonderfully. Good advice.
Oh this brings back mememories. Don't you jsut hate that there are little kids that seem to run around being mean and get away with it! Glad you told the dad, good for you!!
LOVED the fall pictures!!!!
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