I finally did it

I raised my voice to somebody else's kid. I always knew that this was going to happen. I know that somebody else will one day raise their voice to Emily as well. But for some reason I am okay with that, but I have a hard time doing that with another kid. I guess if my child was misbehaving I would want somebody to stop her. However, some parents don't feel the same way. Sticky situation.

... back to today. We were at a play group with a lot of really great moms and kids. Emily was playing, and two different times she started screaming and when I looked she was at tug-of-war with this other child. I couldn't tell who had the toy first (though from prior experiences with the little boy I guessed probably Emily had it first.) but I gave the toy back to the boy, and gave something else to Emily to play with. She was fine with that. The third time I saw him take it away from her and push her to the ground. I sprang out of my chair with my finger pointing and in a raised voice told him " You do NOT get to take other children's toys, and do NOT get to push other children down." Well, he started to cry.

I really don't feel bad about it like I thought I might. I feel like I need Emily to know that it is okay to tell a child to bug off if he is being rude or taking things. If I continue to "be nice" and give the toy to him and give her something else I am sending the message that she should always give in, and I want her to learn how to (politely) stick up for herself.

Now I must also say as I eluded to earlier that this child often has a problem with sharing. And sometimes it seems to me that he is only interested in the toys that others are already playing with. I watched him take things and start arguments with three other children besides Emily.

I just hope that his mom doesn't get angry with me, and the hard part about that is sticking to what I know was the right thing to do by telling him no. Ick. I hate confrontation, and when it involves children it can be especially hairy.