Some kids suck.

Sorry for using the "S" word in the title of this post. (I'm sure my mother is still cringing...) But you know, sometimes there is just no other way to put something. Case in point -- some kids just suck!

I took the boys to the "big park" today. I was very excited, seeing as it is the first day of school around here for the big kids. That means the park will be fun! No big kids knocking down the little kids. No 10,000 unruley people at the park. Nope. Just us mommies and the little kids. Fun! So, after eating a picnic lunch, the boys headed off to play. Today their favorite thing was the super duper swirly slide, which is about a story high and has 3 or 4 twists. (This is the first year Jackson would even go down it!) They were doing great....going down the slide, running a huge lap around the park, and back down the slide. Well....doing great until little "Mikey" showed up.

Why does there always have to be a bully at the park? So...Mikey was probably a year older than Jackson...and did I mention that he was a bully!?! As my boys are running another lap with huge smiles on their faces...little Mikey shows up at the top of the slide and blocks it so the boys can't go down. Jackson, not being into confrontation, turns around to walk back down the ladder of the slide. "What are you, chicken!?!" Mikey yells.

"No," Jackson said nicely. To which Sawyer then yells at Mikey in his deep throated growley voice, "WE'RE NOT CHICKENS!!"

"Jackson," I said. "It's ok. You can go on down the slide."

"But that boy is in the way," Jackson said.

"It's ok," I said. "Go around him and go down the slide." I stood and watched for a minute as the boys went around the little bully and went on down the slide. As the boys were hopping out of the slide, little Mikey was hanging off the slide with his arms folded up into wings and was yelling "BWACK BWACK BWACK!!!"

Ok. Now I was ticked. I had to tell myself that I am a mommy. I am calm. I am cool. And I am not going to beat someone else's child (especially not in public). By this time the boys had made another lap around the park and were back at the top of the slide. Mikey was now running up the slide so the boys couldn't go down. I begin talking myself down...when suddenly a woman comes over from the opposite side of the park. "Mikey! That's warning number 1! You get three warnings and then we're going home!" Thank the Good Lord, I think to myself. It does have a mother!

The boys proceed down the slide happily. As they run past me, I grabbed Jackson and told him he didn't have to play with that little boy. "Why?" he asked. "Well, if he isn't going to be nice to you, then you don't have to play with him!" I said.

"Ok, Mommy," Jackson sweetly says.

This time as the boys are running their lap around the park, little Mikey meets them halfway and jumps in the middle of their path and growls at them like a monster. Mikey's mother stomps back over to him, "That's number 2, Mikey!!" At this point, I'm thinking go on Mikey...one more mess-up and your ass is outta here! I was actually kind of hoping he'd get in trouble again so his mother would take him home.

So...as the boys make their way to the top of the ladder...guess who has already made it up there? Uh-huh. Monster Mikey. Jackson looked at him and nicely said, "Don't play with us."

I think Monster Mikey thought about this for a second...and then he said "What's the secret password??" Jackson looked at me and said, "What's he talking about, Mommy?" (And about 2 seconds later, Sawyer is growling back at Mikey again...apparently he didn't understand the word "password" and thought Mikey had called them worms. "WE'RE NOT WORMS!!" Sawyer growled back at him. Atta' boy, Sawyer. You tell him!)

"The password, Jackson...you know...to get through," I said. At this point I was trying to help them play and get along. Finally Mikey said, "Just tell me a secret word and I'll let you through."

To which Jackson replies, "Will you please let us go down the slide?"

"Fine," Mikey says. The secret password is please. Just please." So Sawyer said the secret password and went down the slide. Eventually, little Mikey became a little bit nicer and the boys got along...but I was never comfortable with the little monster.

I just hate that some kids are so mean. It makes my heart ache to think of all the school days my kids have ahead of them. I know there will be bullies and arguments...and I wish I could fight the battles for my kids. I know "it's life"...but why do some people just have to suck!?!

The funny part is...on the way home...Jackson told me his favorite part of the day was making a new friend. Ah, boys.