Mama Bear

A little part of me was debating on whether or not to post this, and then another part said I absolutely should. So here goes...

The weather has been absolutely gross for so long (hot & humid...like a heat index of 105, or raining). Anyhow, we decided that we all needed to get out of the house and do something low-key, but still enough for Kylie to enjoy. We opted for the mall, since it is so close to us.

Apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea...there were tons and tons of kids in the play area, so we went into the Disney store. Kylie really enjoyed hugging some stuffed animals and looking at her reflection in the princess mirror. Once we left there, Kylie had spotted the play area....conveniently located close to the Disney store.

We saw that a few kids had left, so we decided we would let Kylie play and just keep an even closer watch on her and let her enjoy the playtime.

We were both getting a bit stressed and frustrated with the lack of parental supervision and just overall parenting that was going on...or should I say that wasn't going on. Anyhow. We saw kids just jumping all over and running and it was just a bit much. The play area is for littler kids...you must be 42" or less to play in there...and there were lots of kids that were just too big to be in there. I think I may call the mall office and suggest that they have someone monitor the area.

Back to story. There were kids jumping off of all the cute little things that the little ones crawl under and climb up on. I was worried that Kylie would get squashed by another kid, jumping off of what she was crawling through and land on her. So...I told him no jumping and reminded him that the signs says no jumping or running.

I don't want to be the parent that is yelling at someone else's kids or telling them what to do, but when you are putting my kid in danger...I'm going to do something about it.

It was no sooner after that when Kylie was on her way down a little slide and a kid that was about 6 or 7 flew down it and totally took her out. She instantly screamed and was so scared. Then I ran over and put my hand on the kid's shoulder and used my mom voice to say "hey, you just knocked her down, you need to be careful and watch out for other kids." His mom then came at me yelling in another language. I have no idea what she was saying.

Hindsight tells me she was probably upset that I put my hand on her kid, but Hello...what about the fact that your kid just knocked my kid down to where she was screaming and tears running down her face and the kid didn't apologize and the mom didn't seem to care.

I then raised my voice a bit to this lady and told her that he just knocked her down and that he needs to apologize to her and be more careful. I then told him that he needed to apologize to Kylie. He then said he was sorry.

Wow! that was totally not what I was expecting to happen when we went to the mall. It was just a new, and big mommy moment for me.

I'm not sure how well I am going to handle when she is in school and things like this happen more often. Matt said we will need to plug my ears and put blinders on me, so there is less for me to see and hear.

I did learn from this though. When we are somewhere like that and I am getting frustrated and bothered with the environment....know that something is bound to happen and that it is okay to leave before anything does happen. Also, for me to approach the other child or parent in a calmer manner.

This happened yesterday and my heart is still pounding as I think about it. I just know there is so much more to come in this whole parenting experience, and I hope that I will always learn from these experiences and act appropriately.

And if necessary...mama bear will come out :)