But my daughter took her nap a bit longer and we were afraid that we may not be able make it to the Parks and Wildlife since it would close at around 5 or 6 PM. So we decided to visit Luneta instead since my daughter was never been there and the last time I visited the park was three years ago (if my memory do not fail me).
My husband and I both failed to anticipate that there might be some program being held there in the celebration of the Independence Day. We only realized it when we reached the place. But we were thankful that the park was not that crowded and we could still roam around.
After riding off from the cab (we don’t have our own car :D), we headed to the area where there were fountains. We took some pictures of course. Suddenly, in just a nick of time that we took our eyes off my daughter, a litte boy, probably just few months older than our daughter, attacked our daughter. We just saw him bitting my daughter’s head while tightly holding my daughter’s face. I was really shocked and I immediately pulled my daughter away and carried her but I made sure that I would not make the damage bigger. The companions of the boy took the boy as well (they are farther from us) and just uttered, “nanggigil na naman.” My daughter was too afraid to cry 🙁 (I was the one who almost cried). She just bore her face on my shoulder and hugged me so tight. My husband checked her head and her face. There were three long scratches on her left cheek and another small one on her brow. Thank God that the scratches were not deep.
One of the companion of the boy said sorry but no one among them (they were three) checked the damage their boy had done to my daughter. I did not even heard them reprimanded the boy nor told the boy that what he did was wrong.
We just left the area and find another place. Maybe my daughter was just too happy to be in a new place and see fountains that she immediately forgot what happened. After a while, she already managed to walk again and utter her usual words. But she was not in the mood for pictures.
My husband was teasing my daughter that she should bite the boy also but I told my daughter that she should love the boy because the Bible says “Love your enemy.” Of course, my husband was just teasing my daughter to lighten her mood.
How about you, what would you do if you were in my place? Or if you were the companion of the boy? How would you let the boy realize that his action was wrong?
I don't think can handle it, I am overly protective of my kids and if someone will try to hurt them I wont be able to be calm at all..
Whenever my kids do something wrong to anyone (which is a rarity :), I talk to them in private. I make sure that no one hears what we talk about. The reprimanding or advise words that I tell my kids won't sink in when they know that people see them while being scolded at. They will remember the shame more than the advice. I think that is so effective. My kids are so well behaved, thank God! 🙂
Anyway, if I were in your place, I would just explain to my kids what happened. Something like that happened to my son before. I got angry to his classmate who pushed him. It was then that I realized it wasn't right. I should have understood the boy and his acts. I learned my lesson. I then realized that knowing the reasons for such foul acts first before doing anything, pays a lot. For all we know, the kid may have a psychological or physiological problem, etc.
Take care and thanks for posting! Sorry napahaba… 🙂 added you in my blogroll!
Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience. If I were the boy's companion, I would definitely scold him in front of the girl he attacked and the girl's parents and will ask for forgiveness from them. I will make my son feel shame for his wrongdoing to teach him a lesson that there is punishment for a bad behavior so he won't do it again.