My Soap Box

Here is my soap box for the day (this one is for you Natalie). On Wednesday I was at the park with my friends and the kids for playgroup. Ethan and one of his friends were playing in the sand. They were playing like boys -throwing sand, pretend fighting (don’t you know they are superheros?), and all that good boy stuff. A mom, who we did not know, walked over and said, “Whose boys are those in the red shirts?” Of course, that would be mine. She continued to get mad and say that they were throwing sand at everyone. I felt like she basically said I was a bad mom and should get over there and yell at my bad kid. My kids are not bad and I am not a bad mom, my kids do get out of control sometimes-as does everyones, but they are just kids. The boys were throwing sand on each other, and as long as they were both fine with it-I DID NOT CARE. I know that might not sound like such a big deal, but she was very rude and this was not the first time that day someone else had gotten mad at us for the way we were parenting our kids. This mom’s child might have gotten in the mix a few times, but maybe her child should stay out of the way if she does not like sand! Anyway, the part that makes me really mad is that this mom felt like it was her responsibility to tell me how to parent my kid. This is so annoying. Why do mom’s think that they can tell other peoples kids what to do when the mom of the child is right there? If you have a problem with my kids, let me deal with it-You just take care of yours and if you don’t like something that is going on around your kids -LEAVE. When you take your child to a public place, like the park or McDonald’s Playground, you expose your child to things that might not be the best (just wait until they get into school). I figure that my job is to teach my kids how to deal with things, including mean kids and if they are behaving inappropriately-which I don’t classify as throwing sand with two willing participants. So, it really does not sound like that big of a deal at the park on Wednesday, but this happens frequently and not just to me. Almost all of my friends have had a similar experience. Now that I got that out of the way, I feel much better. I am really not a rude person (or I might have said something back to that mom) but I just wish people would mind their own business. Let me take care of my kids. Believe me-they don’t get away with much, I am a strict mom and have my eye on them all the time.