The Defense of Family Act

Tonight I am one proud Momma. 

Earlier this evening Monster-Monkey squared off with a 13 year-old bully and came out on top. 

While we watched. 

Our Monkeys were among the dozens of kiddos that swarmed the old-fashioned cook out/ bonfire.  They ran breathless through the huge yard that backed up to acres of land, lost immediately in game of war.  I did my best to keep a visual on both boys as they darted in and out of groves of trees. 

I had just gotten Mini-Monkey situated with a hot dog and "juicy" when I stood up to see Monster-Monkey shoot in a double-leg take down on a kid twice his size.  The bigger kid buckled in half and started to retaliate and the rumble quickly became a street-style brawl. 

The boys rolled and flipped around while I watched from a distance as my 6 year-old son expertly performed textbook wrestling moves, ultimately pinning the 13 year-old who lay still and accepted defeat. 

With that my Monster stood up, retrieved his make-shift stick gun and scampered off to catch up with the rest of the army boys. 

I looked up and met the eyes of the Monkey-Maker who was beaming and grinning from ear to ear. 

It was a proud moment indeed. 

You see, in recent days we have had to have a few conversations with the Monster about bullying and how to handle it.  It seems that although he is "enormous" he is not immune to teasing.
The Monkey-Maker was EXTREMELY concerned that while the Monster had inherited his own size and athletic prowess he got MY sensitive side and tendency to shy away from confrontation as well. 

In order to combat this we both have been schooling the Monster on how to handle "bullying" situations, assuring him over and over that as long as he is defending himself or someone else, we will NOT punish him for getting physical in order to deliver the message, Don't Mess With Me. 

As it turns out, the circumstances that preempted tonight's beat down were in fact rooted in Monster-Monkey's attempt to defend his brother from the bigger boy.  Apparently the older kid had been choking Middle-Monkey.  In the big kid's defense, Middle-Monkey was likely refusing to pick up his toys or doing something else that could make any rational person want to choke him...., but I didn't ask for details.

The moral of this Momma's story is that my Monkey's look out for each other and are not afraid to throw down in defense of family.