Mama Bear fight

Eric is out of town this week and I usually schedule a lot of activities out side of the house to break up our routine so the days go by faster. Yesterday I took the boys to a local pizza place that had a little play area and video games (imagine a mini-Chuck E Cheese). We had had a great time and Sawyer (my 3yo) had gone to the play area one more time while I counted the tickets for their prizes. He was up at the top sitting in this little house playing with something and these two boys (they looked about 5 and 6 years old) came where he was. They said something to him and he shook his head no. The next thing I know they are both KICKING HIM IN THE FACE! I jumped up from the table and went running and I yelled, "HEY, STOP THAT!"

The next thing I know the mom comes up behind me and says, "DON'T YOU DARE YELL AT MY CHILDREN!"

ME: "THEY WERE KICKING MY SON IN THE FACE, I REACTED BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT HIM!"

HER:"WELL, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE YELLED AT MY CHILDREN!"

ME: "THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE KICKED HIM IN THE FACE!"

At this point she asks her sons if they kicked my son in the face and they both smile and say yes. She told them to come down and one of them did. As she is walking away she made some remark like, "We don't teach our children by yelling at them."

ME: (at this point I was already very upset, trying to keep from crying) "Yeah, you just teach them violence."

The next thing I know the other boy who was still up in the play structure was walking towards Sawyer and Sawyer just punches him. Usually I would be all over his case, but I knew that he was just trying to protect himself. The mother comes running and YELLING,
(to Sawyer) "HEY!" (to me) "HE JUST HIT MY SON!"

ME: Well, aren't you the hypocrite yelling at my son.

HER: I am going to call the police on you.

ME: Go ahead, I haven't done anything but protect my son. This is ridiculous.

At this point I am trying to round my boys up to go and I am trying to keep from crying and then the mom calls her sister over and she starts telling her what happened, in front of me, about the boys and is laughing.

So then I did something totally out of my character, since I had already crossed the line of my character anyway, and I went up and interjected in their conversation and I said, "If you are going to tell her, then tell her everything, like how you verbally attacked me!" Then I started crying. I said, "I am a nice woman and I am sorry for yelling, but I didn't know what else to do. It is not like I knew who those children belonged to so that the parents could deal with it. I was protecting my son." I don't know if it was because I was crying or what, but she said, "let's just have peace." I said okay and the boys and I left. I got in the van and I BAWLED my eyes out. I couldn't believe that that had just happened.

I called Eric and told him what happened and when I got off the phone, Eli asked me, "Mommy, did you forgive her?" I couldn't answer right away because I knew I hadn't. When I felt like I did in my heart I told Eli, "Yes, I did."

Sawyer just has a couple of red marks on his face, but he is okay. I think I was hurt more than he was. :(