Thank God for the strong willed child

I was at home on a Thursday late morning, getting ready to go to work and my phone rang.  It was the principal of the kid’s school and she said, “Unfortunately I have to tell you about something that happened today”.  Of course my heart fell to my stomach and I said, “okay…”.  You never know what you’re going to hear.  She went on to tell me that Zoe had been in art class and told her teacher that a boy “touched her butt”.  When the principal talked to Zoe she asked, “Now what do you mean when you say ‘butt’?  Do you mean here (pointing to the back) or here (pointing to the front zipper area)?”  Zoe pointed to the front.  She then asked Zoe if she had told the teacher right away and said that Zoe said yes and looked at her with a “duh, of course I did” look on her face.  She also told me that they wanted us to know they would be following district procedure and discipline immediately. 

I was enraged.  My first thought was wow I’m so glad Zoe spoke up and did the right thing.  Soon after as I was driving to work I just broke down crying.  Only 6 and she is already dealing with this bullshit?!  I get that he most likely did not fully understand what he was doing, but it pissed me off nonetheless, as a mother but as a woman too.

Zoe has always lived up to her name “full of life” and most of the time that means she is stubborn as hell, very outspoken and very opinionated.  As a parent, having a child with a fiery personality can be very challenging because more often than not they do not listen to you but I ALWAYS knew that one day I would be thankful for it.  I wasn’t sure how, but I just knew I would thank God for giving me a strong and determined little lady.  This was that day.  Zoe knew that it is not okay for anyone to touch her private space and she spoke up right away.  I was so proud.

Later that night I asked her if she would tell me what happened.  She said that the boy put his hand on her pants in her private area and she pushed it away.  I said, “how did that make you feel?” and she said, “mad”.  I said, “how do you feel about it now?”  She said, “nothing.”  I then made sure to praise her a lot for doing the right thing and telling a grown up right away.  I also said that if a boy/man ever does that again and doesn’t listen to her she has my permission to punch him in the face. I mean really, if we’re teaching our kids that it’s not okay for anyone to touch their private areas, they are also learning it’s not okay for them to do so to others…I would hope that all parents teach this to their kids, but sadly not so.


All this to say, I used to feel frustrated and sometimes annoyed that my daughter is strong willed and defiant…I now am very thankful for those traits and I know this is only the beginning.

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