When Fear Takes a Turn in the Opposite Direction

Not long ago I wrote a post about one of my mom fears.

My biggest mom fear is that I am afraid my child won't fit in socially or be picked on.

I was convince this fear was directed towards Ayden, but guess what my fear ended up finding me real quick and it was with Audrey.  

I love picking Audrey up from preschool.  She is always so excited to see me because she missed me so much those three hours she was at school.  

The other day was different.  She lacked that bounce in her step and just looked tired and sad.  Of course I just assumed all the drama from the weekend was catching up with her, but when she got in the car she told me she was just sad that everyone was worried about her.  Her words exactly were, "Every one was worried about me today mom, and really it isn't all about me."  I actually was thinking that it was sweet that everyone was concerned about her fall and scrapes on her face.

It wasn't until we got further down the road she proceeded to tell me that her feelings were hurt.  Now lets face it, I tread lightly with Audrey as she is a little sensitive, but she was genuinely upset because she brought this all up.  She told me that a little boy was making fun of her by saying she had blood on her face.  It had upset her and she told me that she walked away because she didn't want to give him attention and show him she was mad.  To my surprise she did inform me she was going to talk to him because most kids who are mean just need a friend or someone to talk to.  Seriously, this kid makes me smile, and she actually does listen to what I say.  

What it breaks down to is Audrey was picked on a little bit, but not to an extreme.  But being picked on or being bullied starts out small.  How children deal with this situation is what defines if they will continue to be picked on, and I am so happy that Audrey has been listening to what we have talked about when someone does something that she does like.  She will probably be picked on again, but now I know she will continue to use those tools I have attempted to give her.  

The sad thing for me is that this fear is real and it happened before I thought it would.  Now all I can do is continue to be there to teach my kids how to handle situations.  What I cannot do is worry about what could happen because in all reality I need to take that vacation from my worry and let me kids learn a few things on their own.  It is tough though because they are so little, innocent, and the world is cruel.