BIRTH CONTROL

Ok...it seems moving to China and all that growing by 'leaps and bounds' my kids are doing...well, it's catapulted them into this new phase I call, "DOWN RIGHT ROTTEN." For me AND for them! >:( ANYONE who knows my kids, will not be able to believe what I'm about to say next. My kids just DON'T do these kinds of things! That is, until now, apparently. I have no idea how to handle certain situations with them recently because, while I may have encountered misbehavior in the past...it hasn't been like this.

Allen went out to dinner with some co-workers tonight, so I decided since the kids have been indoors all day, I would take them to a little playplace our local grocery store has in it. It's actually quite a big playplace and it's cheap! So, they go inside all happy and go lucky, excited to be playing with other kids and play equipment. I'm standing on the outside of the netting, watching them and talking to Mr. Chen. We can [theoretically] leave them in there all day, until they close. So, I figured what better way to wear them out before bedtime, right? I even brought a book, thinking we would be there for quite a while.

Anyway, I watch my oldest (4.5 years old) son, move along the equipment and veer off towards the trampoline. There is only one little girl bouncing in there at the time. I watch my son move into the trampoline area and push the little girl so hard, she falls down and slides across the trampoline and smacks her head against one of the poles!!! She looked up and around with the most puzzled expression on her face. Who blames her!? She really was ok, but she still looked completely puzzled as to why she was pushed and why so hard?!

All of us standing on the outside of the netting are shocked and for several seconds nobody responds or says anything. All jaws went slack, including mine! And then, as if in slow motion, all heads turn towards me...because, well, there are only two white boys in there and only one white mother standing around it. And, then, it's as if everything sped up again into normal speed...but, normal speed included vigorous hand gesturing towards my son and very loud complaints - all at once!!

I kicked into motion...kicked off my shoes, put those little nylons on and proceeded into the play area. I walked over to Brandon, told him what he did was unacceptable (and why) and proceeded to pull him out of the play area to sit out for a couple of minutes. Even though I explained why he had to sit it out for a couple of minutes, he then started thrashing, kicking, twisting, screaming at the top of his lungs, crying and lunging away from me. You can only imagine the kind of attention we were starting to attract at this point. I'm used to Brandon understanding that he did something wrong and cry, but he always follows to where I instruct him to go to sit down. I'm certainly NOT used to this kind of resistance. Once we exited the area, tons of people were surrounding us. Only some of them saw what happened and at least partially understood my actions. But others had no idea what happened and must have thought I had beaten him in the play area to make him carry on so much. He was putting up such a fight, some people may have thought I was trying to steal him or something.

After making him sit out for awhile, I again explained what he did wrong and why it was wrong. He was profusely sorry and I told him he could go back in only after he apologized to the little girl. Ryan was still in there and I knew he would put up a big fuss to leave and I didn't want another outburst so close together with the first one. So, Brandon ran back in, looked for the girl and he DID apologize with a hug (she, again, was baffled by his actions). I had followed him in this time and when I looked up, I saw so many people surrounding the netting, watching me...including police officers! I decided it was best to pretend nothing happened and start smiling again. It worked...people eventually dispersed...the officers being the last to do so.

Yes, this is one of those moments you wish the earth would just open up so you could crawl into it and not be seen again. Am I at the bottom of my shame spiral with the kids?? Can I be done now? Or are there more unexpected surprises for me in the near future? I have no idea, but I'm so exhausted by my children's behavior! Again, I feel like I have been catapulted into this phase and I'm completely unprepared for it.