Today at the post office, there was a mother with three young children waiting in the long line in front of me. She was probably from Europe as she spoke a foreign language to her children. She has three children, an older girl, probably 5, and younger boy, perhaps 4, and a toddler girl she was holding, probably age 2. The moment I noticed them, I saw the oldest girl ticking her brother. I thought this was childs play so I did not pay too much attention to it. But slowly I observed that it normally takes three physical attacks from the older girl before the younger brother start defending himself. I watched them play sometimes nicely and sometimes very roughly, but all the times I observed, the older girl provoked the boy. It seemed that she did not like him in her presence. It was when all three kids were playing together, and the mom talking to the post office clerk, that the play started to become more violent than I could tolerate. They were all sitting on the floor with the toddler playing a game on moms phone, the older girl used her head to push the boys head away several times, and then she started show her teeth close to her brothers face, trying to bite him. She did this several times and then the brother was mad, trying to pull her hair. They went back and forth two rounds, before the girl started to become really angry and was ready to shove her brother. At the time, I had to intervene. I said gently but firmly, Stop! Stop!. Both paused for one second, then the girl started to blame her brother. Her facial expression was all but pointing toward her brother. I was quite surprised and said to the girl, I saw you started this. She was surprised that I knew what was going on, looked down and remained quiet. Her brother, looked at me with his big green eyes for quite a few seconds, could not quite believe what happened, that a stranger would step in and tell the truth. This interaction ended right there, as the mom finished mailing business with the clerk, and it was my turn. I dont know why no one said anything, but I had to. In my mind, I hope I made a difference by saying something to the young boy that what happened was not OK. I hope that he knows. I also know that I did not intervene earlier because I want to respect the mothers right to watch over her children. I also know that this is probably a typical sibling rivalry due to the close birth between the first child and second. In the end, I hope the older sister would be able to get the space and care she needed in order to thrive, the young boy would have the safety to be included, and the mother, God bless her, all the rest and support she could have to keep her family growing healthily.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 07:06:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015