Monday, November 24, 2008

Blogging for today... am I doing this right??


Ok, this blogging thing is a bit confusing. I see all these blogs that are so artistic and colorful, yet I don't even know how to 'follow' someone else's blog. grrrrrrr.... I will learn I guess. I have Mommy brain.. I think this will be my excuse for the next few years. Ha-ha. Danica is down for her nap, so I have a minute or so to write. Today we went to a Mommy Meetup. I use meetup.com to get me connected to some local kid playgroups. It usually is a fun time, Danica is able to play with different toys and interact with other kids. It is funny when you go to these things, how the social dynamics plays out. You have the kids who just kinda sit back and chill, the ones who are the 'bully', the friendly social kids who just want to have fun, and the crabby leave me alone types. Danica is definitely the kid who just wants to have fun. She lets nothing hold her back; she is not shy and will play with anyone. But there is this little girl who is 3 months older who is the, 'known' bully. This little girl goes up to any baby or toddler and will push them down, kick them or take their toy away. She is an only child, who may have been very spoiled and this is just the way she is. She has everything a kid could want, and says everything is hers. Her personality may work for her in the future, she may be a go-getter in life. But for right know she looks like a bully. She was pretty mean to Danica today. I felt my heart break when I saw her hit and kick Danica.. When another kid hits Danica, she just looks at them with this very perplexed face. She does not understand why someone she wants to play with is hitting her. I hate it when kids hit her, because I am worried she will learn that negative behavior. The little girl's Moms seem to be very soft spoken about her daughter’s behavior. She asks me if Danica is tough, and I say, I guess so. But I think Danica may just be tolerating, because she is not hitting back. If you look at the situation from above it might be kinda of comical. In a cartoon type of way. I mean this little girl turns her head back and forth looking for her next victim. If someone is having fun, she goes and puts a stop to it, if someone is acting up, she puts on a sweet face to make herself look good, she is like a Toddler version of Nelly Olsen from Little House on the Prairie. ha-ha. It also seems like every Mom there is trying to get this child to stop misbehaving, or stops bullying their child. I am not the type of Mom to get after other peoples kids. I have seen Parents get pretty mad when someone else tells their child No. So, I usually take Danica out of the bad situation rather then having to deal with the mean kid. But if it gets out of hand I will inform the parent, but luckily that has not happened...yet. But Danica did seem to yield to this child's dominate behavior. She seemed to understand that this girl was the BOSS and don't try to mess with her. Danica does sometimes try to take other kids toys away from them, but I make sure she knows that it's not nice to do this. But the Bully Toddler (as she will now be known as) pushed Danica into a window, when Danica was trying to play peekaboo with the curtains. Then when Danica got into the ball pit the Bully Toddler started kicking and hitting Danica for no reason. The Mother did end up pulling her child out, thankfully. But I was just ticked off because instead of saying that hitting is not nice, she just tried to feed the child treats. Now, I am no child expert, but if I got sweet treats for hitting people, I would do it all the time too! ha ha. Hey,,, I am just saying... Children learn quick, and you have to be careful what you are teaching them.... OK, off to get some things done before Danica wakes up.

1 comment:

momof3 said...

It's hard when toddlers are like that. I was a toddler teacher for 2 years and it's the hardest job I've ever done. I'd always tell the kid that was hurting or biting "we don't hit, it hurts, or it gives us owies" or "We bite our food, not people" :) sometimes it is pretty comical but your heart does go out to the other child. They're all so innocent because they're all so young, but it can be very frustrating.

I hope we get to see Danica soon so she can play with Carys!

Oh, if you want to make your blog cute, which I already think it is...I think you may be talking about adding a background? Go to my blog and click the icon on the top left (free backgrounds and more at cutestblogontheblock.com) that's what I use to get all my gidgets.