Political blogging will resume tomorrow, I hope, but this evening I’m pretty wrung out. Tonight at the Bear’s soccer practice, while the younger siblings were playing on the sidelines, a six-year-old threw a rock at the Tiger and hit him in the head. Hard. I wasn’t there, but I heard all about it from the rest of the family.
The Tiger proved once again that scalp injuries bleed like crazy. He’ll be okay, but he arrived home looking like a refugee from one of those scary movies I haven’t watched since my high school days.
It was a deep cut and hurt like hell, but worse, the incident wasn’t an accident. It was deliberate and unprovoked. The child’s father didn’t say a word to my husband. Not cool.
It’s hard to know how to handle this; the family is new to this team. I’m not one to hold grudges, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect an apology from the parents, or at least a word of concern. (The dad did insist his son apologize.) I’d also like some reassurance that in the future, they’ll keep an eye on both of their children, especially if their younger son has a history of aggression.
Here’s what the Tiger’s noggin looked like up ’til a few hours ago, before it got bloodied and then shaved like a big bullseye around the wound. (Out of privacy concerns, I don’t normally post pictures of my kids, but this one doesn’t reveal his identity.)
Update 9/20/08: The mom of the other little boy sent us an apologetic email earlier today. That made me feel a lot better. Kids stand so much better a chance of getting it if their parents do, too. Although I really don’t know these parents, I sort of suspect they may have a division of labor where the wife is charge of dealing with social situations, including the touchy ones.
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
You’re damn straight you are entitled to an apology. Did the rock thrower offer any reason whatsover for what he did? I don’t see a genuine point to making kids utter “I’m sorry” without also making them think about why they are sorry.
I think the rock thrower was pretty freaked out by what he’d wrought. There was a *lot* of blood. Again, I wasn’t there, but other parents witnessed the aftermath. The only individuals who saw the actual incident were the rock thrower and the Tiger’s best friend, who thinks the thrower was careless rather than malicious. But he’s only 4 1/2 years old and was pretty freaked out, so maybe not the most authoritative witness.
We did get an apology via email, which was at least something, but at yesterday’s soccer game (the first real match of the season) the parents didn’t approach us to check on the Tiger. I don’t know them by sight, so I couldn’t approach them (my husband was busy coaching). Without knowing them, I’m tempted to think they “deal” with things through avoidance. Which is probably the message their son is getting, too.
I think the rock thrower was pretty freaked out by what he’d wrought. There was a *lot* of blood. Again, I wasn’t there, but other parents witnessed the aftermath. The only individuals who saw the actual incident were the rock thrower and the Tiger’s best friend, who thinks the thrower was careless rather than malicious. But he’s only 4 1/2 years old and was pretty freaked out, so maybe not the most authoritative witness.
We did get an apology via email, which was at least something, but at yesterday’s soccer game (the first real match of the season) the parents didn’t approach us to check on the Tiger. I don’t know them by sight, so I couldn’t approach them (my husband was busy coaching). Without knowing them, I’m tempted to think they “deal” with things through avoidance. Which is probably the message their son is getting, too.