At a certain point, you know, one has to conclude it no longer matters.

When my son has tee ball practice, I set up my little folding chair, and either chat with another parent or read a book.  Today was a reading day, and at one point I happened to look up at the team as they were lined up to run relays around the bases.

Much to my surprise, one of the boys simply walked up to another who was waiting patiently for his turn, grabbed him by the shoulders and literally threw him to the ground.  It wasn’t because the thrower was bigger or stronger than the throwee, it was just that the throwee wasn’t expecting someone to walk up and attack him for no good reason.  I can totally understand that, I wouldn’t have expected it either. 

Dad of thrower is standing near me, and says not a word to his thrower son.   And this is not the first or even the second time that thrower boy has done this to people.  The dude is a serial thrower.

Silent Dad, you get the Lazy Parenting Award^TM for your “boys will be boys” atttitude and not telling your aggressive son to knock it the heck off.

Boys, much like lion or tiger cubs, are absolutely into horsing around.  However, unless the horsing around is a mutually agreed upon activity, it shouldn’t happen.  Just the other day the Munchkin and a friend of his were in a bounce house and doing exactly the same Wrestlemania moves on each other.  However, they were landing on a soft surface, and by the dual set of giggles, you could tell it was all in good fun.   When they started to get a bit out of control, they were told to cool it.  And they did.

But, violence for the simple sake of violence is not to be excused as simply “boy” behavior.  I resent people like Silent Dad, because then I am forced to tell my son to be on his guard for cretins such as that and never let anyone throw him to the ground just because it seemed like a really good idea at the time.  These kids are five and six years old and already there is a fight for dominance in the pack.  Ridiculous.

It is people like Silent Dad who perpetuate the cycle of bullying, threats, and general dominant idiot behavior that can be so harmful to the psyches of children. 

And I have to say that even though I’m a pacifist at heart, a tiny part of me would rather like to throw Silent Dad on the ground one day and see just how he likes it. He’s kind of wimpy, and with the element of surprise on my side, I bet I could do it, too.

Bad Glinda. Bad, bad Glinda.