Let me first just start by saying...I'm off the Pitt. Yes he's adorable, but his whole image was ruined for me once he left Jennifer A. I'm a Jennifer fan, thick and thin. He may now be married to the husband stealing, globe trotting, do gooding, orphan adopting woman and I know he is all about helping others. I'm still not a fan, all I'm saying. With that being PERFECTLY clear I can however say that I did enjoy a few of his movies. Fight Club being one of them. Moving on.....This past week was challenging. A lot challenging. One of life's lessons that I try to teach my children constantly is family loyalty. My 11 year old doesn't seem to get it. My daughter on the other hand does. She loves her brother and anyone that messes with him better look out. She's a force to be reckoned with. Spitfire. Anywooo...Here is what I witnessed last week with them. As usual the kids are in the backyard with the gang of neighborhood children. All boys plus my daughter. We have a tire swing. They argue over who gets to ride on it..who's turn it is, the order of things. You can imagine. Lots and lots of young testosterone all trying to run the show. I'm watching from my dining room window. They don't know I'm watching. At some point the boys get mean and my daughter usually comes in crying or saying how "unfair" her life is. I get it. It does seem unfair in her eyes that there are only boys around to play with. I watch as my daughter reluctantly loses her spot on the tire swing. She gets off and then this bigger boy pushes her down. I am standing there getting super pissed about the fact this boy did this..super pissed. I'm about to snatch up my baby and go outside and yell when suddenly my son decides to have an ahhh ha moment!!!!
My son gets off the tire swing and helps his sister up and comes to her defense. There's a lot of pointing and shouting and get out of my yard and DON'T TOUCH MY SISTER kind of language. At that moment all I can feel is hot tears streaming down my angry face. And then what comes next is relief. My kids come walking towards the house. I rush around so they don't see me watching...wipe my tears and act like I saw nothing. I don't know why and frankly I don't care the reasoning, but something changed. I have been shoving this message of family and loyalty and blood is thicker than water down his throat oh, I don't know for about 11 years now. Perhaps he thinks his sister is fine and can always hold her own. Most of the time she can. I expected to see her rise up and give that boy a piece of her mind. What I'm getting at is..... I'm glad she didn't have too, for once.
Conclusion: I was raised to look out for myself only pretty much. Family was there but was not the absolute. I'm trying to teach my children differently. I think they are finally starting to get the message. This was a good mom moment...a very good mom moment. Hug your kids tight tonight...
