Mama Bear in Overdrive

I've been thinking recently, probably due to an increased amount of time spent alone (sorry folks), about protecting my children.  Broad topic, I know.  I went on a field trip with Nate's class last week and witnessed some, well, unbecoming behavior.  Maybe that's what got me thinking. Nate's finishing kindergarten this week.  He'll be in first grade in the fall!  Abbie's starting preschool in the fall as well.  They're both participating in several MSCR activities this summer and they are both in Sunday School classes at church.  These are settings in which I cannot control who they are around or what happens to them when they are there.  That's terrifying!  I'm mainly talking about Nate at school right now.

I know that realistically all I can do is teach them right and wrong, and hope that they make the right decisions.  But it's so much more complicated than that!  What about when somebody is mean to them?  What about when they are put in a situation where they don't know what to do?  What about peer pressure?  Ack--I think I'm going to vomit.  Nate is so small.  I worry so much about him getting bullied.  He never has and he has tons of friends, but I am always so concerned about him getting picked on.  It's like the mama bear in me wants to teach him to threaten kids and punch them in the nose if they are mean to him, but I know that's not right. No, seriously, I know that's not right.  But I don't want him to be the kid who gets walked all over either because his mom always told him to tell a teacher.  It's such a fine line to walk.  I'm so grateful he's been good friends with everybody thus far.

Then there's Abbie.  Part of me says I don't need to worry at all because she's tough as nails, but man, she's a girl.  Girls are MEAN.  Boys bully.  But when they have a problem, they get it off their chests and then it's done.  Girls talk behind each other's backs and they gang up on each other and they pick sides.  Girls are vicious.  That terrifies me.  I know that Abbie could handle herself in a fight.  Heck, she could get Nate's back in a fight.  But against a pack of girls?  That might leave me crying in the hallway.  How do you protect them from that?

This is tough stuff.  Mothering is tough stuff.  Then you throw in the thought of other kids being mean to your kids??  To be perfectly honest, I've had several nightmares about this in the past week.  To be perfectly honest again, the dreams involved me screaming at an 11 year old for being "not nice" to Nate.  What are the boundaries?  When do I step in?  Can I discipline somebody else's child when they are clearly failing to do so?

I better stop now and have some hot chocolate to calm myself down.  My heart is racing and my adrenaline is pumping.  One more week of school before summer break...