Mar
6
The Power Of A Posse
by Leslie
Our playgroup started in 2007. Five moms, five three-year olds and Baby Ella.
Three years later, we’re still a group. Five moms, five five-turning-six-year olds, four one-turning-two year olds and Baby Ella. (Okay, so Ella’s not so much a baby anymore, but the name stuck. Sorry, kiddo. You’re forever Baby Ella in my heart.) But now, with school, work and other obligations pulling us in different directions, our get-togethers are a bit more random.
Yesterday everything lined up, like an eclipse, and a few of us managed to hook up at the mall play area, after preschool, before big kid school pick up and on our way to run errands. The kids fell right into their groove, like musicians coming together to play a symphony. They each knew their part and played beautifully together. All was sweet as a song, until…
Baby Ella came to report that someone wasn’t being nice to Lucy. We immediately got on our feet and went to see what was going on. A boy- the biggest boy in the play area - had Lucy cornered in a tunnel. His hands were around her neck and he was shaking her. She was visibly upset and truly quite frightened. One of the other mothers in our group reached her before I did and pulled her out of there.
Once Lucy settled down, the kids went back to playing and we increased our watchfulness, particularly over the boy as his parents didn’t seem to be around. He lingered near our kids. Then, he grabbed for Lucy and said, “Come here! Come on! Come with me.” And before I could even approach him, the rest of the playgroup kids, without saying a word to each other, circled around Lucy. The older girls placed themselves directly between the boy - who was bigger than every one of them - and my little girl and told him, “You’re making her scared. She can’t come with you. Please leave our friend alone.”
For the rest of the afternoon, Lucy played with her friends around her, watching her and protecting her. And I felt so grateful for my girl to know what it’s like to be loved and valued, to feel small and picked on, but to have friends surround her, protect her, lift her up and soften the blows the world is hitting her with, because that’s how my playgroup friends make me feel. Because we all need a posse. I’m so thankful for mine.
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Ooooooh. Aaaaah.
(first time commenter- long time reader lol). MADE ME CRY! Love how kids know when something is wrong and take care of it!!
How terrible, but I’m so glad they stood up for her!! What a great post with an even better ending!!
*sniff sniff* what an awesome story! *sniffle*
I have tears in my eyes. How sweet are those little kids that they would put themselves in harms way to protect one of their own. Leslie, I don’t know how you didn’t crawl in that tunnel and rip that boys arms off. You could have plead insanity due to your raging pregnancy hormones and you totally would have gotten off scott free.
That is so precious…
Awesome. Just awesome. Now, me, being Scout, probably would have given the boy the evil glare, in evil mommy voice demand to see his parents, and then I would have wrung their necks for not watching their kids. Heh! That’s just me… (Grrrr) Poor Lucy!! Hate bullies.
that’s heart warming
That is so awesome of her friends - and boo on the bully! Seriously, that is so not ok.