Birthdays and Bullies

Recently our weekend days have been filled with one birthday party after another.  Last week Bella attended her first themed birthday party for her friend from school.  Guess what the theme was for this 4-year old darling little girl?  Yep, you guessed right, Princess Party.  All the little girls were asked to wear their best princess costumes for the grand affair.  My eyes lit up knowing that Bella could once again wear her Fairy Princess outfit from Halloween.  
 
Here are some pictures of the day:

 
All the kids dressed up as princesses (minus the random spiderman).  Bella poses with Rent-a-Cinderella 

 

 
The girls sat patiently waiting for their turn to receive a balloon-shaped animal.  Bella gets her hand painted since she was afraid to get her face painted by Cinderella. 

 
 
This weekend we attended another classmate of Bella’s birthday party.  This time, it was for a rambunctious little 3-year-old boy.  What a difference this party was!  Kids were flying around running dangerously near the edge of an uncovered pool, jumping from play structures, sliding down slides backwards, forwards, and 3-4 kids at-a-time. It was sheer chaos, but the kids had just as much fun!  

Unfortunately, I also witnessed Bella being bullied for the first time.  I always knew she was a timid child in public. She’s quite talkative and daring at home but in outside circles, she speaks softly and moves cautiously about as if she’s trying to avoid getting dirty or hurt.  I always thought of this as a good thing because unlike the other kids who were constantly dirty or bruised, Bella was always clean and rarely had any cuts or scrapes.  

But after watching the kids on the playground where aggressive kids rule the roost and cautious kids are pushed to the wayside, I quickly changed my tune.  Especially after the birthday boy smacked Bella upside the head for no apparent reason.  Bella just started back at him and soon he was off is merry way up the slide.  At first I didn’t say anything and thought maybe it was an accident.  Plus, I wanted to see if Bella would fend for herself or cry.  She didn’t do either.  So when the kid slapped her head again as he came back around up the slide, I yelled out, “Hey, no hitting.”  I held my tongue because I really wanted to say, “You stupid little s*$#, what are you doing to her?!” 
 
Jin felt the same way as I retold him the story that only I witnessed.  It was time to teach Bella her first life lesson in asserting herself.  First, I asked her if she remembered being hit.  She responded by saying that Birthday-Boy (who shall remain anonymous) hit her head, which told me that she remembered the incident clearly.  Then I firmly told her that next time that happened, she is to say to him directly (using an aggressive scowl on her face), “Birthday-Boy, don’t hit me”.  To be sure she understood, we practiced the scenario a few times so that she could rehearse the line.  I even quizzed her at bedtime to see if she remembered what to say.  Each time she repeated it correctly; she even used her aggressive-face, which looked oddly like her constipated look.  If I witness that again by the same kid, next time the lesson will be that revenge is a dish that's best served cold…