Another great day today! Josh had to work so the girls and I hung out at the house most of the day. We played outside on the swings again this morning and then later went to get some groceries. After Josh got home, we ate dinner, then decided to take the girls to a local park to feed the ducks in the pond.
We decided to head over to the splash pad (also at the park) to cool down and rinse the stickiness off!
CeCe, Vivi, and I got in the water while Josh stood and helped watch on the sidelines. I was holding Vivi and running her through the water, and CeCe was running around but staying within a few steps from us. She never got far.
I walked Vivi over to a spot that had a little more mist and as I'm turning around, I hear Josh yell, "HEY" to a kid as he's walking quickly away. "He just pushed CeCe down," Josh said to me. He steps over to pick CeCe up and I start to go after the kid and find out where his parents are. I looked over and saw a man that was sitting at one of the nearby tables. He had earbuds in his ears. He pops his head up as he realizes his kid is coming over and I'm pointing and yelling at him "IS THIS YOUR KID?" "HE JUST PUSHED MY DAUGHTER DOWN." Looking back at the kid, "WHY DID YOU PUSH HER DOWN?" From the reaction I'm seeing from the man and kid, I began to think that maybe they don't speak very good English. I walked back toward CeCe and Josh, and they go sit down at one of the tables. Josh and I go to a bench with the girls to get a better look at CeCe. Less than a minute goes by. We realize she has a pretty good size scratch on her face. Josh is consoling CeCe and my blood begins to boil. We're asking each other, "what should we do?" I decide to put Vivi down beside Josh, pick up CeCe, and take her over to where the man and the boy were sitting. I was yelling at the them "LOOK WHAT HE DID," "LOOK AT HER FACE," as I'm turning her cheek to them. I turned back to the boy and yelled "WHAT DO YOU SAY TO HER? or CAN YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING? (turning to look back at the man; he takes his earbuds out of his ears). As I continue, "I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU SPEAK ENGLISH, LOOK AT HER." The man puts his hands over his mouth and said "Oh I'm so sorry." I looked back at the boy and he quietly said "sorry." I turn to look back at the man and he quietly says, "I'm sorry, he's special needs, I'm sorry." In that moment, that millisecond, inside I began to feel sympathy, but on the outside I'm still beyond pissed. I yell to the man (a little quieter, but not much) "Well maybe he shouldn't be around other kids if he can't be supervised." I take CeCe and walk away. We head straight to the car.
I took these in the car.
On the way home, my heart is still racing. Josh and I are still wondering and asking each other, "what are we supposed to do or what should we have done?" "Special needs....really?" I'm asking Josh exactly what happened because I didn't see it. He says he just comes over and pushes her. She flies off of the ground and basically lands on her face. "He knew what he was doing," he said. "She was just standing there. She didn't do anything to him."
At this point, CeCe is better now. Josh is letting her know that she's gonna be ok. She knows it and actually starts scheming a little bit. "I want some milk and I want to watch Mickey Mouse." Josh lets her know that we'll get her some when we get home. She's still a little sad/whiney, off and on.
We got home, got the girls in the bath, got their pajamas on, and CeCe went to the couch to watch Mickey Mouse. Josh put ice on her scratches while I put Vivi to bed. When I got back, I took these pictures...
It was already looking better.
Thinking back on how everything went down, I'm not sure how we would have handled it any differently. I probably would not aim so much of my anger toward the kid. Oh and when I say kid, he was definitely a teenager, he was a pretty big kid. But, at least we didn't push him back to show him what he did, like we wanted to!! As far as the "special needs" comment, I work with special needs kids and I get that things can happen. They can happen with every kid. The kid didn't appear to be special needs, but that doesn't mean anything. I just really hope that the man didn't just say that. I think that would be really awful. But should that make things any different? Should it somehow make everything ok if it is true?
What would you do or say in this situation? This will not be the last time something happens. I know that. But I'm interested to hear the proper way to handle it so that I can prepare myself for when that day comes.
Posts
1 comment:
My heaet is just sobbing for Cece. She is just not used to being treated that way and to be blindsided like that, out of the blue, wow.
Many years ago i had the exact same kind of incident happen with rachel, being bullied and shoved and hurt by anothe child, same age as she was though, not older like this big bad kid (which is what i believe) he was a bully......just because there are special needs, they need not be any violent or intentional cause of pain to anothe child, ESP. A 3 YEAR OLD....
and what i did i went immediately to the parent who lived next door, as this kid was in my house when the incident occurred and, i came out of my house like a bat out of hell. The mother got very upset with me for "trying to discipline her child" which was "only her job" not mine, but i explained that the point was at that age, you have to act IMMEDIATELY WHEN IT HAPPENS, at the exact moment, there was no waiting, and I WANTED MY DAUGHTER TO KNOW THAT HER MOTHER WAS GOING TO TAKE UP FOR HER AT THE INSTANT SHE WAS HURT. that was the most important thing, that she knew mom was there, and would fight her battles until she got big enough to do it herself.
I think you did the right thing. You couldn't change what happened or the fact that was suffering but like I always say "I want THEM to REMEMBER ME WHEN THEY GOT HOME." SO YOU HAVE to act immediately, in the moment, so they can remember or at least i felt like i MADE MY POINT SO KNOWN THEY COULDN'T HELP BUT REMEMBER IT FOR A GOOD LONG WHILE.
kisses and hugs to Cece. Yep, things happen but that's what moms and dads do, they take care of their little ones, over and over and over, each time it happen, so that child knows they are safe and someone (mom and dad) are their to protect. she need not be fearful when mom and dad are there. Good lesson learned, mom and dad. I CHECK OFF "YOU AND JOSH ACTED VERY, VERY APPROPRIATELY........
Post a Comment