The age of innocence
Just one of those days where I feel crappy… not feeling well, work being a pain and tired all day.
Then we get a call from the school...
We are told that my son (6 yo) had touched a girl in an inappropriate place. That's really all that we knew. The teacher said she was floored. My wife and I were speechless. So, tonight we had a talk with our son. Here's his story: They were playing on the playground and he was tickling her and it seems when not paying attention he accidentally put his hand "by her private parts." She told him to stop and he stopped...
Well, I feel awful. After I explain about the whole necessity of avoiding even getting close to any private areas and how even accidents can be bad....I feel bad because I know how this all happened. During the past six years, we have known my son is very ticklish. Sometimes just threatening tickling would get him giggling. Well, one of the most ticklish spots is on the inside of his thigh half way between his knees and his "privates". Well, I suspect he was attempting to tickle the same area and did not realize that a little girl at school might not like that. He cried for some time this evening before I was home and our talk. I feel bad.
I understand the need for my son to act appropriately and I explained it to him. But, I feel that he lost a little bit of his childhood innocence today. As a parent watching my children grow up so fast as it is, it is sad.
Then we get a call from the school...
We are told that my son (6 yo) had touched a girl in an inappropriate place. That's really all that we knew. The teacher said she was floored. My wife and I were speechless. So, tonight we had a talk with our son. Here's his story: They were playing on the playground and he was tickling her and it seems when not paying attention he accidentally put his hand "by her private parts." She told him to stop and he stopped...
Well, I feel awful. After I explain about the whole necessity of avoiding even getting close to any private areas and how even accidents can be bad....I feel bad because I know how this all happened. During the past six years, we have known my son is very ticklish. Sometimes just threatening tickling would get him giggling. Well, one of the most ticklish spots is on the inside of his thigh half way between his knees and his "privates". Well, I suspect he was attempting to tickle the same area and did not realize that a little girl at school might not like that. He cried for some time this evening before I was home and our talk. I feel bad.
I understand the need for my son to act appropriately and I explained it to him. But, I feel that he lost a little bit of his childhood innocence today. As a parent watching my children grow up so fast as it is, it is sad.
posted by MidwestMedic at 19:58
2 Comments:
Well, my wife just read this blog and started crying. (sigh) I guess I hit this one right on. I love my wife and my son. She just said the hardest part was seeing his face when he thought she was going to be mad...
the parts of parenthood they don't warn you about.
His face was heartbreaking! Heartbreaking for me. Here's my precious lil son who loves to cuddle and hug and play and, yes, be tickled...feeling shame and embarrassment for something that was an accident. His little chin quivering as he asked me, "Are you mad at me, mommy?" barely choking back the tears. No, I wasn't mad at him...accidents happen, but how do you stress enough that tickling isn't appropriate play with his classmates? It's like he has to fast-foward his maturity and little mind 10 years! Age of innocence? For him...not long enough.
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