This afternoon my youngest nephew and I spent some time together while his family went skiing and my family took naps. We had a good time. He beat me at Stratego (I lost Tortoise and Hare style) and I showed him the ropes on Super Mario Bros Wii. He also told me this story about his basketball team.
"There's this kid who kicks people in the nuts and calls people bad names."
"That's pretty mean," I replied, "does he get in trouble?"
"His mom gets him in trouble when she sees it."
"What about your coaches?" I pressed
"Only when he travels."
Funny dialog but a not so funny tale. Hugh is starting to hang out with other kids more often now - library on Mondays, church groups all week, etc - and I suppose at some point I'm going to hear a story like this. What do I tell him? How do we handle a situation like this, especially remotely and when they're really just little kids? Somehow I'll need to find the best mix of solve your own battles, don't worry about it and building a 48" nut-kicking practice dummy - all while doing the the right thing : )
Not really sure if the other side would be worse. What if Hugh were the one having stories told about him? Once we were someplace and a saw a kid acting mean to another kid, but when the 'mean' kid's mom came by asking what was going on, the upset kid's folks just said, "nothing, everything's fine." I'd want to know. If my family is jerking it up, I want to hear about and would prefer the awkward talk. So just tell me if you see it. And blow the whistle on traveling too, it is technically cheating.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
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