Last night, I was lying in bed telling Dan how upset I'll be some day if Mac gets bullied on the playground or if other kids are mean to him. Well, I didn't have to wait until Mac starts pre-school because we had our first "bully incident" today.
Dan came home early and so we decided to go out and run some errands in Lincoln Park. On the way home, we thought we'd swing into Fantasy Kingdom and let Mac run around for a few minutes. Now Mac is a pretty gentle kid. Sure, he throws his occasional block and all but really he's not violent. Well, Mac was playing at a table with some cars next to an older boy, who I'm guessing was at least four. Mac, being curious, went over to the boy and touched his hair - gently. The kid got all upset and said to his nanny, "Why is he touching me?!" I immediately pulled Mac away, apologized and explained to the boy that Mac is still a baby and doesn't really understand boundaries.
A few minutes later, Mac was playing in the center of the room. Out of nowhere, this kid runs up to Mac, looks him up and down and literally BODY CHECKS him to the ground. He even made a little grunting noise, like he was putting in some extra effort. Mac is physically a big boy and usually can handle being pushed and whatnot but this time he was full-on sobbing. I scooped him up and took him over to a bench to re-cooperate...and that's when I started crying. Blame it on pregnancy hormones, but I was so upset to see another kid just be so outright MEAN to my son! And the worst part is that this kids' nanny didn't even make him apologize (although she did give him a time out, so I guess that's some satisfaction.)
Needless to say, Mac is totally fine but I think Dan and I are a little bit scarred. Seriously, a four-year-old is old enough to know better than to hit a baby! And I have to confess I've never once had an inclination to hurt a child, but if you could see the thoughts that were running through my head...ohhhh, that little such and such!
