Jump and not climb

One of the hardest things for me as a parent is dealing with other parents. This foray into the world of ridiculously expensive children's gymnastics classes has only reinforced this for me.

The first week, we arrived and there were 6 kids in the class. There were 3 classes being held simultaneously, and yet I recognized no one. We're out and about quite a bit, and it isn't a very large town, but I had never seen any of these people before. It was tough killing an hour without someone to chat with, but I did have a two year old to wrangle after all.

The second week, 2 more kids joined the class, one of whom was being very physically aggressive with Sebastian. From what I saw, she didn't get out of the way in time when he was swinging on the rope. He bumped her, and she decided that justified hitting him 3 or 4 times. The last time, Sebastian was walking by, not looking in her direction at all when she took a swing. I was downstairs watching through the glass doors, while the other mother was upstairs on the observation deck, obviously shouting down to her kid, but I couldn't hear what she was saying. As we were leaving, I saw her practically wrestling her child into submission. Sebastian was upset about being attacked, but promptly forgot about it.

Yesterday, we arrive for the third class with only 3 minutes to spare for Sebastian to take off his street clothes and get in line. I was already concerned about what was going to happen with this girl, when the mother approaches Sebastian and I learn

1. that this is not a girl at all, but a boy with long hair in a pretty ponytail.
2. that his name is one that sounds like it is from outer space, but is probably biblical in origin.
3. that they expect an apology from Sebastian for last week's altercation.

I was completely blindsided by this. Not only did they expect an apology from Sebastian, but they were not offering one in return. By the time I overcame my shock, the kids were in class and the mother was talking to someone else. I had Dorian in the stroller and took him outside for a walk. With every step, I became more frustrated and more annoyed. My child accidentally hurts yours, yours purposefully beats mine, but mine is the only one who needs to apologize? I don't think so.

I could have just stewed in my own juices. I am very good at that tactic. But that wasn't going to solve anything, and I had a feeling that she was one of those moms who has a crazy aggressive kid but always blames things on the child getting the beat down.

As I returned to the building, she was walking toward her car with her older child in tow. So, I, as tactfully as I could, confronted her about what happened. She felt the need to tell me 3 times that her son had a scratch on his face all week. I told her that if that was Sebastian's fault, that I was sorry, but that the repeated blows from her child certainly merited an apology to my child. That, of course, never came. I will say that I did not see any more aggression directed at my child, but I did see it happen with another kid.

As we were driving home after class, I realized that she was driving the car in front of me. On it were plastered 3 bumper stickers with slogans about peace.