What happens when my kid meets mean kids at the playground

Yesterday was warm and muddy, which meant that we went to the park for a while. Usually, we run into lots of people we know, but our park is closed for renovations, and so we went one town over.

The only other kids there were blatantly making fun of my kid, calling him a freak. And my kid, to his credit, didn't care - he kept hanging out with them and telling them random stories he made up on the spot until other kids came. Then he ditched the mean kids and played happily for a couple more hours.

One of the hard things about being a parent is the same thing that's hard about being a boss - knowing when to jump in, and when to let people figure stuff out on their own. Because I have a thing about self-sufficiency, I tend towards the latter. That doesn't mean it doesn't eat me up inside a little, though.

It all works out in the end.

Originally posted on LinkedIn around March 23, 2021