Monster Mutt, Part 2

Last Thursday morning I found myself in the van, on the way to school, heavily counseling Aaron on how to handle the Monster Mutt situation. About two miles down the road I was starting to feel more like his therapist than his mother and I even started channeling Dr. Phil, complete with long Texas drawl and everything; only I didn’t give away anything to my studio audience.

It seemed that this whole ordeal had been weighing on him since he hopped out of bed and every other sentence that came out of his mouth had some Mutt overtones. It was starting to get to the point that I wondered if I shouldn’t mention it to his teacher. I wasn’t going to demand that the kid be tarred and feathered or anything, but maybe if she could just keep an extra eye out for any aggressive, monster-like behavior, that’d be great, Mmmm Kay.

By the time we hit the parking lot, I had covered pretty much every possible plan of action that Aaron could take regarding this child; ask him to stop, try being friends, blah, blah, blah. Finally, when nothing seemed to satisfy him, as a last resort I threw out that he could always tell the teacher. I did NOT want to suggest that he tattle because tattling isn’t nice and other kids don’t like tattle tails. I really wanted him to handle it himself, but good God I had been selling him my best line of crap all morning long and the boy was not buying it. Apparently he was not in the market for my brand of bull. My brain was exhausted and I was out of suggestions.

So, he went to school and the day progressed until it was time to pick him up. I was almost afraid to hear what he had to say, but before we could even get to the van, he explode with an exuberant, “Mom, it was all a BIG misunderstanding!” He went on to say that he talked to Mutt and asked him not to be mean to him or his friends and now they are all best buds. Aaron also said, “Oh yeah, and his name isn’t really Monster Mutt. It’s Mick.” Well thanks for clearing that one up Buddy.

So Aaron and Monster, errr Mick, are the best of friends and he took care of it all on his own. I am incredibly proud of him that he not only defended himself, but looked out for his other friends too. He has grown up so much in this first year of school and seems to be developing into quite a little man. I am sure that he will encounter similar situations throughout his school years, and I know that they won’t all be as easily settled as this, but I hope that if nothing else, he continues to be a boy that stands up for himself and the people he cares about.