'Sup, peeps? German engineering is in da haus! I had a rockin' weekend, and there is much to be discussed.
Firstly, I got my new roof. It looks snazzy. The whole job took a total of five hours. That's including blowing new insulation in the attic. I think the reason they were able to complete it so quickly is because they did a lousy job cleaning up. Seriously, there were foot long strips of metal with nails in them left in my yard after they left. That's my only complaint, though. I'm pretty pleased overall with the roof.
Secondly, my folks came down today to celebrate my birthday. They stayed and visited for a while, and it was good to see them. Also, they brought some dressers that we needed very much. We had ice cream and cake and I received some little toy figurines, so watch for new characters to be introduced in ToyTown, USA.
Lastly, we went to the mall on Saturday to let the kids run around at the play area they have there. I was watching the mass of children being the little bundles of energy they are, and then I saw... HIM. At first he seemed cute and innocent, being a three year old and all, but then I watched him go up to a little girl half his size, pull back his arm, and hit the girl on the back of the head at full force. He knocked her to the ground, and it's quite possible that her feet actually were in the air for some time during her descent. Her mother came over to console her. What did his parents do to reprimand such behavior? Not a lot. They looked like they said their polite "no-no"s, told the kid to apologize to the girl (and the mother was shielding her daughter from this kid), and sent him off to play once more.
I kept my eye on this kid. Were he to lay one finger on my girls, he would be a very sorry little boy. I watched him confront another little boy about his age. I watched him begin hitting the stocking feet of this little boy. I then watched in horror as he grabbed the boy's face with both hands, fingers in eye sockets and in the mouth, and begin squeezing with every ounce of strength he could muster.
I don't know what came over me. There was this boy, tearing the face off another boy, and he was but ten feet away from me. I jumped to my feet and grabbed this boy's arm. Around the same time, the mother of the assaulted boy rushed over to get her son out of harm's way. Holding the faceeater's arm, I began marching the boy to his parents. His father met me half way. He gave me a glance that was part anger, because I was handling his son, and part shame, because his son is a demon. I looked the man straight in the eye and said "Your boy has seriously injured two children here today."
I was ready for an ass beating. I was sure we would both be escorted out by police or, worse yet, mall cops. The man simply mumbled something in some other language to his son and walked him to his mother. They put on the boy's shoes and left. I talked to the mother of the boy that barely escaped with his visage. He was bleeding in his mouth. She was very angry, and was glad I helped out. She decided to leave as well, though. Her son was too shaken to go back to playing.
Kids hit. My kids hit each other all the time. When they do, though, they get punished. They know it's inappropriate. This boy, however, just thinks it's fun, or it's okay, or it's cute like mouthing off with a limited vocabulary. I'm certainly lucky I didn't get a black eye or sued or something. Given the chance to do it over, though, I would have reacted the same way. It just boiled my blood.
So, did you punish anyone else's children over the weekend, or possibly scold a grown man?