At the park I saw an older boy knee my five year old in the back because she was taking too long to go down the slide. Grr.
An adult friend of the family insulted my daughter’s appearance in front of her and a roomful of people. Grrr.
A family member dotes on one child and ignores the other, to the point of bringing gifts for only one of them on a holiday. Grrrr.
While I can take dreadful treatment from people and try to see them with God’s eyes instead of reacting instantly…I can’t say the same for dreadful treatment of my kids. Or even slightly rude treatment.
When it’s one of my girls being hurt in any way, my stomach tightens and a low growl begins. Sometimes, I have visions of swiping one’s head off with my huge paw. Grr, mommy bear is on the loose!
The good news is, after being a mom for twelve years, I’ve gotten somewhat better at restraining myself. I watch, I wait. I pray. At the park, when Soleil came smiling down the slide, the boy following after her laughing, I settled down. He may have been a little rougher than I like, but Soleil wasn’t hurt. All was fine.
In the case of the adult who insulted my daughter, I saw that that she was just a bitter, insecure woman. Then I let her have it. I kept my bear claws in and avoided insulting her right back–though I can’t deny I was tempted– and plainly told her to shut up. Sometimes your kids need to see that, right?
With the family member, a polite but succinct conversation made it clear that they would not be welcome in our lives if they did not treat all three of my daughters with love. I don’t think I growled, but I came pretty close. Still, their head was still intact after our chat, so I’m thinking I did pretty well.
As you can see, I may have gotten better at taming my inner bear, but the protective instinct still rises up in me awfully quickly. I have stopped trying to figure out why my body and mind reacts this way. For now, I’ll just be glad that I have the ability to think before I growl.
Well, that, and that’s it’s been at least a few years since I’ve swiped anyone’s head off.
turtlemomma says
Awww I remember the first time I felt like I was truly Austin and Melanices mom.
I wasn’t married yet, but I was living with them (bad choice) and taking care of them during the afternoon/evening while daddy was at work and I was the one getting up with them at night if they were sick or needed care.
One day I was walking them in the parking lot to the grocery store. Their little hands in my hands because they were only 3 and 4. A woman was going way to fast for a parking lot and turned the corner sharp and almost hit one of the kids. I instantly screamed at the woman to slow down, she almost hit my kid!!
Yeah. Sometimes we need to let the Momma Bear out a little to protect our kids, but not bite heads off.