Boys Will Be Boys??

We have been very lucky that Tammy (Kyle's mom) has taken Blake to the Little Gym ever since he was about 9 months old.  We have seen amazing things with him as far as hand-eye coordination and also balance and learning how to play appropriately.  Nothing but great things to say about this place and it's teachers.

Last week, we had our first little incident.  Blake is somewhat of a sensitive child, I do not believe that he is overly sensitive, but he can get his feeling hurt.  Kyle and I have always felt really good about the fact that Blake has very good manors.  He knows what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior.  There is a new little boy at the little gym that is somewhat challenging... he doesn't have and boundaries, runs into all the kids, pushes them, and steps on them.  Blake stayed out of his way, but was more upset that this little boy hurt his friend, and for the first time in almost 3 years, Blake didn't want to participate.  He was so upset by this little boy that he completely shut down.  The other kids were really upset also, and cried to there parents but Blake was really upset and kept asking Grandma Tammy to put that boy in timeout. (which I actually think is really funny)

Now, I sit outside the class and watch while Tammy goes in with Blake and does all the activities, and I saw it all.  Tammy did an amazing job of trying to reassure Blake and make him feel safe, but he just wasn't having it, he wanted to go home.  So, Tammy talked to the teacher after class about the situation, and I was in there too, and we both expressed our concerns about this new little boy in class and how his mom spends the entire class chasing him around the gym and how he is really upsetting Blake and the other kids... I got the impression from the teacher that this behavior from this other boy is normal, and that boys are just boys... HELL NO IT IS NOT NORMAL!  I am sorry if I offend anyone, but last time I checked, it is not appropriate to allow your child to run into, step on, push over, or jump on anyone.  I think that she knew that she struck a nerve, and then sympathised with Blake and said that she would talk to the other parent about making sure that he doesn't hurt the other kids... I SHOULD HOPE SO!

I am reminded of this post on Pinterest that I have seen... "Boys will be boys, or so they say, but I'm raising my boys to be men some day...Shouting is not nice, and kicking hurts... nobody likes their face in the dirt... So boys that fight, kick and shout...will be boys that sit in timeout."



It just makes me really sad that Blake might not want to go back and do something that he really likes because one child made a bad impression on him.  We are not going to MAKE him do anything that he doesn't want to do... I am all for putting my child in an uncomfortable situation and making them work through it, but at his age, I don't think that he is ready for that.  We are going to take a week off from going... we are going to be out of town anyways, but then we are going to take him back and make it as positive as we can.  Hopefully that will help, but we will see. 

***Confession:  Part of me wanted to tell him to hit the kid back HAHA  I didn't do that, but I secretly wanted him to... I would have had to reprimand Blake if he did take action into his own hands though...LIKE PARENTS SHOULD!!!