Staying out of it

Today for the first time I encountered little kids who were mean to mine. It was painful. I had to restrain myself from interfering as that would not help Kaleb learn to deal with these kind of things that will happen in his life. He needs to learn that not everyone is going to want to play with him and not everyone is going to be kind. I wanted to see how he handled it. He did pretty well. The story begins when we got to the park. Kaleb said he wanted to play with the other kids that were there. I told him he needed to ask them if he could play. So he did. They said no. His feelings were hurt at that direct rejection, so he kind of stood off to the side with his arms crossed and head down. Then the kids kind of taunted him, "are you crying?" (said in fairly snotty tones) Then he just kept trying to play with them. Eventually one of them did kind of play for a little while before returning to their friend, but the other one went off and moped and pouted. I stayed out of it, for the most part. I gave the kids a stern look when I passed by and suggested to Kaleb that maybe he should play somewhere else if they didn't want to play with him. Other than that, I just listened and played with Laina. Restrained I think. :)

One of the things about this that bothers me is these two kids were 4. Yes, 4. Aren't kids still supposed to be nice at 4?! I don't remember being mean at 4...later yes, but not at 4! What is this exclusivity about? Are children already developing cliches at such a young age and if so, where are the parents curbing this behavior? Or maybe it is the behavior of the parents. I don't know. I realize that children do not always behave in a manner their parents approve of. I just thought this particular phase started a little later in life. I know young children are sometimes painfully honest, but I can't say I have ever encountered ones this young that were just mean.

A learning experience for both of us I guess.