Sometime around the 11th grade, I reached the tallest point in my life that I would ever reach—somewhere around 5’ 8”. CareerMom tops out at roughly 5’ 4”. My side of the family comes from short stock, but CareerMom’s side of the family is a mixed bag.
So, there was about an 80% chance that our kids would be on the smallish side. And it appears that will be the case.
My youngest son, of 11 months, is quite the walker. He toddles all over the house and when he gets near something he knows he shouldn’t—like the stairs or the fireplace—he’ll stop, look over his shoulder and if he thinks no one is looking, he’ll hit it full tilt. One of his favorite pastimes is wrestling with his older brother, and if I’m on the floor, he runs over to me and lays across me while I roll him front his feet to his head.
He likes the rough and tumble.
So why then, am I surprised when the daycare ladies asked CareerMom, “Has Aiden been more aggressive with Ethan lately? Because he’s become the class bully.”
And just to prove it, when CareerMom dropped him off this morning, he walked over to one little girl who was innocently playing by herself, and just smacked her on top of the head.
Part of me isn’t surprised. Quite the opposite of his older brother, Aiden is outgoing and loves to be the center of attention. It’s clear he has a dominant personality; but to see that little boy taking on kids older and bigger than him (well, some are younger and smaller, but most aren’t) both warms my heart and scares the crap outta me at the same time.
I don’t think there’s a father out there who, internally, doesn’t swell with pride when his son stands up for himself. But there’s a fine line between standing up for oneself and being a bully. And it doesn’t help that the daycare workers are so enamored of him that they don’t like to fuss at him because they can’t stand to watch his little lip quiver in response to the scolding.
The little booger has them all fooled. He pulls that trick at home and I just laugh at him and tell him “No!” He gets over it and moves on. Daddy doesn’t fall for those tricks.
It seems we have some training to do…and not just with the kids.
Postulates & Pastimes 
Great blog! Every kid just has to be different than his/her siblings, I suppose. Like it’s a law of the universe or something!
And how could anyone NOT find Aiden’s face the mpst adorable thing in the world?
Not that Nana is biased in that regard or anything……
At my daughter’s daycare, children stay in the baby room until they’re a year old. As any parent knows, there is a BIG difference between a little baby and a 1-yr old. I remember walking into Abby’s daycare one day when she was 11 months old and seeing her straddling baby J and poking at her eyes. Baby J was screaming bloody murder, but the daycare worker was tending to another emergency and didn’t notice the situation. I quickly removed Abby from Baby J. Thankfully, Abby moved into the next room soon and she seems to have no problem with torturing other children now. Maybe there is some kind of a mini-bully stage children go through when they’re 11 months old.