The header of this entry could be a sweeping statement somewhat but my view of older children and interactions with them have definitely changed after this particular encounter.


I once mused about gracious older children who took him on as a little brother and included him in their games. The nice ones..and of course in any real world, there will be the big bad wolves, the nasty ones and...we finally met one. The purpose of even documenting this isn't to glorify anything but remember what we taught him.


So there was no swim class and we brought him to the children's pool which has slides, water fountains and all the fun bits. He was initially fearful of the fountain and went on a slide even...and we decided to just let him have some fun at the waddling pool. There was another family of 4 there, the dad, mom, older boy and his younger sister.


We were always minding our own business until the older boy came by to playfully splash water at C...and we all assumed it would be child's play. He even proceeded to give C a playful hug and I've always encouraged him to be friendly to other children - until he got his cheek scratched.


A whole slew of emotions followed after - bewilderment, shock and of course C could not process what was happening and bless him for not remembering anything because I, was hurt. Hurt by the actions of the boy who masked his intentions with a hug. Playful or not, it was not to be condoned and even if apologies were made and he tried to give C another hug, what was done is done.


We taught him to be friendly, even to people who may not reciprocate with the same friendliness and now, we teach him to say no if he is ever bullied.