Replying to Avatar BTC Sessions

Moment of vulnerability here, wondering if anyone has had a similar experience before.

I completely LOST it on another person's kid today when I thought they had intentionally hurt my daughter, but I was wrong and now I feel horrible.

Context: on a road trip with another family. The other child has behavioral issues and has been known to get physical in the past with others at school and daycare. Over the course of the trip he's been pretty poorly behaved and aggressive but not downright violent... but I had it in the back of my mind that it could happen.

My daughter was playing with him in the other room, then suddenly runs out screaming, bleeding from the mouth and saying that he had hit her. I've never experienced anyone intentionally hurt my little girl and I instantly flew into protective dad mode before properly assessing the situation. In my mind he had punched her in the mouth.

I stormed into the room and flew into a rage, screaming at the absolute top of my lungs, pointing my finger in the kid's face saying to NEVER touch her EVER again. His mom was right behind me. He was likely terrified and I was honestly way beyond any level of anger I've ever felt.

In the next minute or two my daughter then clarified that it was an accident and they had been playing rough but had unintentionally slammed into each other.

The boy cried, his mom was in shock, and she also had tears in her eyes. I feel absolutely awful about the whole situation, I should have had more self control, and I'm a little in shock how quickly I became an absolute monster to a young kid.

I apologized in the moment to both of them and sent a message after saying I should have handled the situation better.

Just really upset about the whole thing, unsure how to proceed now. Any girl dads out there ever have this happen to them?

Hey Sessions, def replying out of full respect and this could have happened to any father…

I am a single full time father of a daughter and my first thought after reading this is you should have never put her in that position in the first place. Especially knowing the child and you were already aware of his issues. It sounds like you actually anticipated this happening so why take the chance?

I think the number one thing we have to do as a parent is sacrifice our own time to keep our children safe. Sometimes that means we can’t do everything we want to do at that moment or it’s a bit inconvenient. Also, I don’t think it’s respectful to scold other parents children because I wouldn’t want any parent to do that to mine. We are only sovereign over our children.

Also, I agree you definitely had to apologize but I would also explain why you reacted that way. Just be truthful. After that, I would make a rule that from now on the only way your daughter can play with him is if you or your wife ( maybe you trust the kids mom even) can see her. I would also explain to your daughter why you reacted the way you did and why from now on she has to take responsibility with you in making sure when she plays with him you can see her.

Just an idea but I always tell my daughter when we are out at like the beach or park, etc…that I’m keeping an eye on her but that I want her to also keep an eye on me. This is a helpful strategy not only to protect her but also so if you have to communicate she can see you.

God bless bud!

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