Helicopter Mom

I recently had my first run in with a bully in the form of a 4 year old. Ok, I digress, she wasn't really a bully, but it was more the revelation that my two year old will have run ins with bullies in her life. Despite the fact that I think she is the sweetest and most precious child, someone will hurt her. The other night at daycare as I was picking up my daughter, Haylie, she comes running to me with supreme excitement waving a coloring page at me, “Mommy I color, I color!” She had the cutest smile on her face as she launched into my arms at put the page in my face. “Oh Haylie, that’s beautiful, good job!” I said kissing her and setting her down. Enters the 4 year old, who always has something to say to me, “That’s not coloring, that’s just scribbles.” Fortunately Haylie not only wouldn’t understand the derogatory undertones, she was busy looking for her shoes. I was little taken aback, I'm not going to lie… what does it matter, she’s 2 and she’s happy about it? The lioness threatened to roar and protect her little cub, but Jesus threatened, "Lisa, she is four, behave yourself!!" Ok, so Jesus is gentle, I'm sure it was more, "Lisa...remember she is only 4, show her love, not anger." So I just softly said, “That’s ok!” with a smile and went on quietly putting Haylie’s shoes on and grabbing her bag. It’s funny that a child could do that to an adult, Haylie was completely unaffected and continued to be in the best mood all night, but then she’s generally a super happy child. As I think about this moment, I’m sad. Sad, because after talking to another mom who takes her kids there, her daughter was singled out by this girl’s cousin for wearing a shirt to close together, “You’re wearing that shirt again?!” It makes me think of that movie, Mean Girls... and yes, I'm not fibbing, I really haven't seen it. I'm not just saying that, because it would be embarassing to admit it, I honestly haven't seen it, but I totally get the concept. Really, 4 year olds are already acting like snotty teenagers? Since when did mean girls start this early? Was I unaware of this growing up or did this not happen when I was young? And I’m sad, because what kind of parents do these girls have? Do they show them love? Do they teach them how to be nice? It sucks that Haylie will have to go through this, but it’s life, and it's my part in this depressing part of growing up, to teach Haylie that no matter what anyone says or does, that is not who she is. God loves her and He created her to be loving and be a light. I hope my example and my teaching will show her that to be God’s servant you have to stand out and just plain be nice despite the circumstances. To turn the other cheek. May God hold me back when I want to be the helicopter mom, a term I will steal from my good friend, Jenn. The type of mom that swoops in and tries to fix everything and protect them from pain.