tis the season of forgiveness

sela and carys experienced that fun old "ramifications of your actions" today...they hated having to stick near me after during and before services, particularly afterwards when all the kids were racing around and there was a smorgasborg of delicious food offered to all. but my girls did not get one crumb. they stared enviously as their brothers engulfed sausage rolls, biscuits and swallowed lemonade. the aforementioned brothers tried to smuggle supplies to their distraught sisters but were intercepted by mamasan.

after we left church, we went and had lunch and may i say that the kids were really quite well behaved. other people usually comment that they are well behaved, but today even WE commented on it! that says something and i have probably jinxed myself but so be it. they really were a pleasure.

we walked through hong kong park and this is where it gets interesting. the boys were playing on the airplane, which has two steering wheels, when another little boy, probably three years old, came walking up and over the "cockpit" area of the plane. jasper and sebastian said, "hey!" but kept playing batman and robin.

the little boy then nestled in beside jasper, thereby making quite a tight fit on the seat. the boy reached up and put his hands on the steering wheel. jasper was laughing and saying "hey!" and then the little boy bent down and suddenly jasper's face contorted and he screamed, "he bit me!!!"

jasper started to cry.

charles and i jumped up. i ran to jasper, flipped up his shirt and saw the red raised areas. POOR JASPER. the kid saw my face and ran to his mother, who was on the phone. i walked after him, jasper in my arms.

the mother kept talking on the phone.

"is this your little boy?" i asked? and the mother kept nodding.

charles was behind me, and i didn't realise this. it was his turn to talk. "your son bit my little boy!"

the mother said, "sorry sorry" and kept on talking on the phone. she looked up at us, surprised we were still there and said, "sorry sorry" and then went back to her conversation... and kept on talking on the phone.

the little boy followed jasper a few more times, and i kept far away from them.

sebastian took it really interestingly.

"i really don't like that boy" he told me, his face full of thunder.

"i know what it is like when someone hurts someone you love," i told him. i really do, sebbie. and i gave him a big cuddle. i reminded him that not forgiving someone makes us feel yukky inside.

and he looked at me and said, "i don't want to forgive him. he hurt jj"

i told him the only way to make the yukky feeling go away was to forgive. he said he didn't like feeling that way. he definitely took it harder than jasper.

anyway.

i couldn't believe the mother... did i mention she kept on talking on the phone?

tomorrow we are off to disneyland. it is cold cold cold. how are we ever going to survive??

expect pictures soon.

Comments

[Charles]

One of the things that was a classic about this incident, though, was when Sebastian yelled at the top of his lungs... "WHERE'S THE PARENT?!"

[Auntie Pammie]

I probably would have bit her. good restraint on the parents part!!

[Mo aka Maureen aka Grandmother aka Mum]

Ai Ya! Poor JJ. This has been quite a week of physical injuries for Jasper :-( I love you, Jay.

[KP - Yellowknife]

NN Grant says, next time, bite him back. Give him the pirate ARRRGH!

[Ester]

Hi Tess, my first visit to your blog and your comment here. Your kids were wonderful before lunch, at lunch and after lunch. Simply very well behaved..as for a mom whose son has just been bitten, you were also well behaved. I would've disgraced myself & my son by giving this other mom an earful on good manners, of adults, not kids!! Hope J has recovered from the bite! Merry Xmas!

[Lowa]

So sorry this happened. Love Seb yelling "where's the parent!?" Sounds just like my kids. We often wonder where the parents are around here as well.

We have a boy in our home school group who we feel VERY bad for. NO one likes him or wants to be around him because his parents refuse to teach him what is socially acceptable. They stand around beaming proudly at anything he or his younger brother do. Including beating on the younger kids!?! They REFUSE to step in and stop it. The kids stick their tongues out at the parents and run away??

The older one, who is 6, will poke the kids, jump on them, HIT THEM, etc etc and the parents honestly just stand there watching. The 6 year old smashed a kid in the face the other day at our gymnastics class, and the little one's head flew back into the head of the child behind him in line. That child got a bloody lip from it AND got his head bashed into a bar that was behind him. The father saw the entire thing and finally took his son out of class. The owners of the gymnastics place do nothing and much of us want to quit because of this boy. People are getting hurt! It is just insane! Any time any of us step in, the boy mouths off to us and tells us he doesn't need to listen to us. He calls the coach NAMES!?!? It is a real pickle. The parents are most odd and the kids suffer for it:( These kids are not going to have any friends if someone doesn't do something.

[Mel]

Sorry, I was feeling all serious and had a respectful and sympathetic response but 'Where's the parent' is just too funny! Cannot BELIEVE she would carry on yakking on the phone. You are such a winner mom lovely Tess. x