When kids attack

Our little miss

On Monday, little miss, little mr and I donned our wet weather gear (it was raining here in Sydney town) and headed for the local library.

Little miss skipped along excitedly carrying her school library bag that I had lovingly bought her for "big school" next year. Not a care in the world.

We jumped into the elevator that would take us to our destination. There was already a mum and her two boys in residence. I had never seen them before.

As soon as we walked in, one of the little boys, I place his age at four, said to our little miss, "You're a poo-poo head."

She looked at him. I was curious to see her reaction. She is a sensitive kid. Interactions like this have been known to cause tears. She didn't cry, she just looked at him.

His mum said....nothing. I wondered if I should say something.

The other little boy, I place his age at about two, then chorused, "You're a poo-poo head."

Their mum said to the older boy, "See what you teach him."

I started to think, "Perhaps you should be telling your lovely boys not to call people names because it isn't very nice. You know, treat others how you want to be treated and all that." I still wondered if I should say something.

The younger boy then proceeded to HIT our little miss. That is right, he HIT her. I was completely gob-smacked. I wasn't sure if this was really happening or if I was having some kind of delusional episode.

She looked at the ground. I thought that any minute she would burst into tears and cling to my leg.

The older boy then proceeded to HIT our little miss. That is right, he HIT her too. Now I knew this couldn't be a delusional episode.

Little miss continued to look at the ground. I looked at the boys mother. She pulled her boys away and mumbled something to them about having to apologise to our little miss.

We reached our destination. Little miss, little mr and I speedily exited the elevator and entered the library. We went to return our books as did the other occupants of the elevator.

"Is she okay?" asked the mum. "She is fine." I replied. "I'm sorry." she said. I didn't answer. I had no words. It wasn't okay that her boys had called my precious daughter names and hit her. It wasn't okay that she, as their mother, hadn't said something to them about inappropriate behaviour.

About two minutes later, we heard, "Sorry!" being yelled across the library. It was the two boys.

Little miss looked up at me, "Those boys are saying sorry." she said. "Yes they are and so they should but it isn't okay." I replied.

Later than night we talked about what had happened. I asked how it made her feel and she said, "It made me feel a bit sad." My heart tore to pieces. I told her that next time someone hit her, or did anything that she didn't like, she should yell, "STOP! I don't like that!".

I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop thinking, "Should I have said something to these boys or too their mother?".  How far would you go to protect your kids?

How far would you go to protect your kids?
What would you have done?