Let go? Maybe tomorrow.

There are many moments when my husband tells me that I need to step back and let the kids deal with some of the problems that come their way. I am learning. It is hard, but I am learning. There were times back home when Cobe would be in conflict and I would find myself in the middle of a first grade fight being the mediator. Not playing sides but helping the boys come to a reconciliation. Fighting for my son  so that he would not lose friends.  Tim would quickly pull me in reminding me that children need to learn how to deal with conflict. I know Tim is right. I have seen it work. As toddlers falling and waiting to see a reaction, then when none is received,  getting up and dusting their little legs. Even now as a newly first and second grader pushing them ALONE into uncharted territory. Teaching them independence which gives confidence. Learning that these little battles are theirs to learn to fight on their own.

Today, however, I sort of let the rule go out the window. We were walking the kids to school, well, Tim and I walked, the kids rode their scooters. This is all very new to us. We have never been at a school where we could just walk them to the doors. None the less, we were nearing the school grounds when we got stuck behind three girls.  Fifth grade girls, taking up the entire sidewalk moving at an extremely slow pace. I know girls can be girls so I wasn’t too bothered. We continued to walk trying to attempt to move around them, but the grass here is soaking with water and is impossible just to roll a scooter on, so I played the patient card and continued to walk KNOWING the girls knew we were there. Cayden is only in first grade and is not a super great scooter rider. So when she looked back at us to smile, she accidently bumped into the heel of one of the girls in front of us. The girl glanced back, gave a rude look, looked forward, and continued to take up the entire sidewalk. Cayden said sorry, and Tim told her to say excuse me so we could get around them. She did and the girls did not move. Then the one girl said to her two side kicks  in a very slow ‘valley girl’ like way “Can you believe I just got ran over by a little first grader?” Cayden did not hear her, but I did. I know it was a moment that I should have ignored the overly confident girls, but not today. I moved right next to that girl and said loudly “Excuse us, can you move over? Please get out of the way.” and I told my kids to follow. The girls moved over. Finally people could get by on both directions. I thought for sure Tim would say something but he just smiled.  I know I should have let go, but I still have at least 12 more years to get better at it.  Maybe tomorrow.