Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Punk.

BubTar is VERY shy at times, so shy that upon meeting a cousin last night (for the first time in his recollection) he started crying when prompted to say hello. He often uses me as a mouthpiece in these situations, "Mom, say hello for me." or "Mom, ask what his name is." though I'm trying to wean him from this, to prove that he doesn't need to be so worried to say hello or ask an innocuous question.

At the swim meet this weekend, I was seated next to a boy his age who was drawing in a notebook. BubTar asked me, "What is he drawing?" and I said, "I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" After denying his request for ME to do the asking roughly 100 times I said, "If you want to know, you will have to do the asking. I'm not doing it." He mustered up all of his courage, stepped around me and said, "Hey, what are you drawing?"

The kid looked up and snarled, "None of your business!"

BubTar's shoulders slumped and he shuffled his wilted self back to my other side and gave me a look that said, "See? SEE? This is why I don't speak to people."

Thanks random pool kid, you just set us back months!

16 comments:

Kristin said...

Awwwww. What are the odds? That really sucks. Well, I'm proud of Bub for FINALLY asking but wow. What a pool punk.

Jaden Paige said...

Aww. That sucks hard. Poor Bub! What a mean little kid, too... I mean what the heck?!

Chrissy said...

Grrrr. Lousy kid.

sheree said...

are you kidding me?!!! What a little punk. Poor BubTar. :(

The New Girl said...

Poor kid. Maybe you could just tell him the hard fact that some people just stink, but most people don't, therefore he should keep on trying? Either way, I'm proud of him for trying.

S said...

Oh, no! This is just like something that would happen to Seven.

Too bad we can't get our boys together, eh? THEY at least would be nice to each other...

moplans said...

awww poor guy.

natalie said...

I would have pinched that little punks head.

Well, actually, I probably would have done exactly what I did when we had a similar situation at the pool the other day. I heard a momma calling "Merritt! Merritt! Stop." "Merritt, come back." "Merritt, did you hear me?" Well, since my girl's name is Meryt, I thought we should introduce ourselves to the girl. When we got in the pool, my Meryt was following along behind the big girl who would not give us the time of day. Finally, Meryt said, "Is your name Merritt?" "Yeah," nasty toned girl said. "That's MY name, too!" Meryt said with MUCH excitment. The girl didn't even answer. She just turned around again. Meryt waited a minute, not realizing she'd been shunned. Then she said, "How many are you?" Louder: "HOw many are you?" LOUDER: "How many are YOU?" "WHAT?!" the brat answered. "How many are you? I'm free, almost four. How many are you?" "Oh, I'm five." And she proceeded to ignore Meryt the rest of the time. I would NEVER allow Meryt to treat someone that way! Her mother was close enough to realize there was some kind of exchange going on, but did not walk over and help us out. ARGH! I hope Meryt's never a brat like that to a younger child. I just told her that the little girl didn't have good manners and I hope if she's ever in that situation that she would be kind and thoughtful to the other child.

Bon said...

oh god. i think i would've cried.

i think i want to cry for poor BubTar.

O is resolutely friendly but starting to notice that not all kids are very verbal or friendly in response...and it puzzles him, and i see some of the friendliness starting to shut down and it breaks my heart.

Gretchen said...

Oh poor Bub. The story made me laugh though, sorry...I can just see this happening to Natalie too--she is much like BubTar. That kid was a punk.

flutter said...

freakin little turd.

painted maypole said...

arg.

although oddly i am glad to know mine is not the only kid who still struggles to say hello sometimes.

Gwen said...

That little shit!

Exactly what our shy kids don't need, grrr.

Charlotte started taking this new karate class this summer, and she's the only girl blue belt in it. On her very first day, when it was time to find a partner for some drill, she stepped way outside her comfort zone (she's also very shy) and asked some boy (a boy!) to be her partner. And that little asshole said no! I asked her if she had then proceeded to punch him in the neck, because I am all about solving problems through diplomacy. Yup.

We feel your pain, in other words.

tierd said...

That is terrible! :( Poor BubTar!

~aj~ said...

Punk indeed! Blows my mind when little kids are intentionally cruel like that.

So sorry for BubTar. The mental image of this story makes me wanna give him a great big hug!

Mimi said...

You ever find that your adrenaline is spiked way more by what people do/say around your KIDS than when it pertains to you? Insult me all you want. Insult my KID? I see red. Poor BubTar. he can talk to me. I'm pretty nice.