We had an interesting “Pizza at the Park” night tonight.  First, if I could capture the weather here and keep it year long I would.  To say it’s been amazing would be an understatment.  It’s like February in West Palm. Perfect.

We went to our favorite local park and pulled out our blanket.  Dave and I sat back and relaxed after a very full day while the kids rushed down their pizza and began to play.  Our kids are very social.  There is never not a  new friend to meet.  Tonight was no different.  Emma and our neighbor’s son quickly found a young boy who I think was 5 and they started to burn off the energy of the day.

Then it began.  As a mother I watched but also listened.  This little boy must have said “stupid” about 20 times.  He would constantly tell the kids around him that they were stupid and then he went on to tell Emma she’s a Stupid girl.  I gathered the kids sans this little boy and told them that we can’t control other people’s behavior or words but we can control ours.   I attempted to tell this boy that we don’t call people stupid, let alone use that word. Would have loved to tell his parents the same thing but they were sitting in a car in the parking lot looking like life had taken it’s toll on them.

Then I began to make a huge assumption.  I think I’m pretty correct on this but it’s an assumption and I don’t really know but it’s not rocket science.  I began to have some huge compassion moments as I heard the phrase of “your stupid, she’s stupid”.  I imagine this little boy is told on a very regular basis that he too is stupid.  He must because there is no other way these words would be consuming him as they did.  We as parents have a huge role to play in our kids lives.  So many children are not fortunate enough to have a stable home environment. My heart breaks for these kids.  And I learned once again tonight about the word compassion.  I could not stand what this child was doing and it frustrated me to all end but at the same time you have to believe it’s not his fault that he’s being taught these things.  Shame on those in his life that are feeding this child lies.

Heavy heart for sure…..