To begin my story, I have an obnoxious neighbor who I tried to be friendly with.
Neighbors are supposed to love each other, right?
In spite of the not-so-good stories that I’ve heard about her, I gave this woman (who’s in her 50’s)
the benefit of the doubt and tried my best to keep the relationship cordial.
She has a one-year old granddaughter who plays with my toddler occasionally.
My toddler prefers to play with the other neighborhood kids who are of the same gender and capability as him.
Of course, you can’t expect a one-year old girl to be kicking balls or riding on a bike.
Toddlers can be possesive of their things and when Adi saw the one-year old girl took his chair,
he reacted by getting the chair and pushing the little girl gently.
The little girl cried probably because of Adi taking away the chair or Adi pushing her.
The obnoxious grandmother scolded Adi like “Don’t do it, you bad little boy!”
Obviously, the little girl’s grandmother did not notice me because my children’s nanny was blocking me.
I intended to let my neighbor know that I was there and I did not like what she did; that of telling my young son that
he’s a bad little boy.
She can scold my child if he makes a mistake but there’s no way I will agree to call any of my children “a bad little one.”
It leaves a bad taste in the mind of young children.
I am not over-reacting to yesterday’s issue because that is not the first time that this neighbor of mine called Adi “a bad little boy.”
My eldest child often tells me about some neighbors scolding Adi and some calling him names but I just shrugged my shoulder
until I heard it myself.
This neighbor has two young kids from her recent relationship and her 4-year old girl used to frequent our house.
There are times when the 4-yr old girl becomes too playful and naughty and I never said anything bad on her.
I expect her mother to return the kindness and hospitality that I gave to her child.
Aside from “bad little one,” here are the list of words that must not be said to a toddler or any person:
– ugly
– weak
– incompetent
– slow
– fat/thin
Young kids tend to live by the words said upon them. Be careful to what you say to a kid.
The World of Second Chances 