Oh boy, I had a horrifying moment today, and I'm still feeling the pangs of not responding the right way....I guess we all have to learn as we go, right? Sometimes I just don't respond in the most mature or proper way to things....it takes me too long to think thru the right way to do things sometimes that I don't do it right when the opportunity presents itself, which always leaves me with an embarrasing/"oh,-I-wish-I-could-do-it-all-over-again" feeling.
So, today we were at a birthday party at the park (Skypark). It was a big party with lots of kids and they had a lots of yummy food and a pinata and a bounce house, it was pretty cool, until my child lost his. (cool, that is). I was standing off to the side talking to one of my neighbors who was at the party, too, and Carson was jumping in the bounce house. I knew he was in there, but I wasn't watching him very closely. He's such a good kid (usually!), so I had no concern for him misbehaving. It was near the end of the party and I was having a nice conversation with my friend when I heard Carson crying and screaming, and sure enough, another mom (who I don't know and who I hope I never run into again!) was carrying Carson away from the bounce house looking for his mom (me!)...I walked briskly over thinking for sure he had gotten hurt or trampled or something in the bounce house (there were lots of kids in there!), but as she quickly handed him over she said "he was hitting and kicking and not listening!!" and off she went......oh boy, was I ever mad and embarrassed and Carson was REALLY mad cuz he didn't like that the lady had to grab him out of the bounce house. So I quickly reached down to get his shoes and quickly said goodbye and thank you to the hostess and off we went to the car for a talk and then home.
I tried to sort it through with him, and basically it sounds like he just decided to hit everyone, and kick one boy, and not listen to the lady who was trying to get him to stop. I should have been over there watching him. I should have gone to the car for a talk and to calm down and then gone back to the party, not for him to enjoy it some more, but to see if everyone was okay and to make him apologize to those he hit and kicked and to apologize to the other mom for disrespecting her and not listening to her and kicking and screaming when she tried to get him out....and to get a better idea of what happened....gosh I feel so embarrassed that I wasn't watching him and that I didn't do those things I should have. I always get annoyed with other parents who aren't watching their kids, especially when they are being mean.
So when we got home we came up with some consequences for him. We made him throw away all the candy he had gathered from the pinata as well as the yo-yo party favor. We had him throw away his sticker chart that he had been working on for a long time (he was so close to earning a prize for all his hard work), and he isn't allowed to have stories before bed tonight and tomorrow night. Those are all things that are pretty dear to him, so I hope it helps him remember that there are consequences to the way he chooses to behave! And next time (not that I'm hoping there will be a next time, but I know there will be other things we'll have to deal with), I'll know better how I should respond. It's so hard sometimes to do the right thing on the spot!
So anyways....I just had to write it all down and get it off my chest. Thanks for reading, I feel a bit better.
Carson got to crank some dried corn through a little mill that took off all the kernels and then took a cup full of the kernels and put them through another grinder to make corn meal out of it that we fed to the cows. He loved turning the grinders.
We got some fresh ranch-made pumpkin ice cream that was delicious.
