I am not very good at confrontation, and I had something happen today that distressed me and my daughter, and I am not sure how I should have handled it
My daughter is 2 1/2, we went to a library storytime for ages 2-3. Afterwards my daughter wanted to go into the play area with the other kids. Most, well all, of the mothers left the kids there, unsupervised while they looked for library books, I was the only one there watching the kids play. Mostly because my daughter is very shy, and has a hard time in situations around strangers, so she likes to see me there or else she gets upset.
Anyway, she sort of asked/told me that she wanted to play with these plastic letters and the mailbox another little girl was playing with, so I told her to go ask the little girl if she could play with her. My daughter asked "can I have those letters" and was smiling. The little girl said "no, I am playing with these" so I told my DD that she wanted to play with them and she would have to wait until the other little girl was done. My daughter just stood there, looked at me, looked at the little girl and smiled. The little girl said again, loudly "these are mine, I am playing" and hugged them close to her chest and pouted. So I went to hold out my hand and asked my dd to come over next to me (I had a feeling something was going to happen), but before I said anything, the little girl said "these are mine" again and pushed my daughter...hard enough to knock her back on her feet.
My dd just looked at me, kind of shocked. So I held out my hand, and I pulled her aside and told her we were going home. I looked for the mother of the little girl, and did not see her anywhere in the area. So I picked up my dd, who was now crying, and made my way to the checkout. I was very upset the mother was not watching her because right before the mother left to go look for books, she had to correct her dd for taking toys away from another little girl and being aggressive just a few minutes earlier.
I said to my dd (not sure if this was okay to say to her or not) that we were leaving because the little girl pushed her and I didn't think that was very nice and I didn't want her playing with that girl. Between the little girl, the abruptness and the closeness to nap time, my daughter wanted to nurse, in the car, for 45 minutes until I could finally get her in the car seat, and she cried the way home until she fell asleep.
I'll admit I am very sensitive to things like that, it hurts my feelings too, and maybe I am too sensitive.
So...if this happens again...should I have said something to the mother? if yes, How should I phrase it? (I am not diplomatic, I am probably too blunt for most people)
What should I say to my daughter? I don't want my daughter to think that it was okay for anyone to push her.
My daughter is 2 1/2, we went to a library storytime for ages 2-3. Afterwards my daughter wanted to go into the play area with the other kids. Most, well all, of the mothers left the kids there, unsupervised while they looked for library books, I was the only one there watching the kids play. Mostly because my daughter is very shy, and has a hard time in situations around strangers, so she likes to see me there or else she gets upset.
Anyway, she sort of asked/told me that she wanted to play with these plastic letters and the mailbox another little girl was playing with, so I told her to go ask the little girl if she could play with her. My daughter asked "can I have those letters" and was smiling. The little girl said "no, I am playing with these" so I told my DD that she wanted to play with them and she would have to wait until the other little girl was done. My daughter just stood there, looked at me, looked at the little girl and smiled. The little girl said again, loudly "these are mine, I am playing" and hugged them close to her chest and pouted. So I went to hold out my hand and asked my dd to come over next to me (I had a feeling something was going to happen), but before I said anything, the little girl said "these are mine" again and pushed my daughter...hard enough to knock her back on her feet.
My dd just looked at me, kind of shocked. So I held out my hand, and I pulled her aside and told her we were going home. I looked for the mother of the little girl, and did not see her anywhere in the area. So I picked up my dd, who was now crying, and made my way to the checkout. I was very upset the mother was not watching her because right before the mother left to go look for books, she had to correct her dd for taking toys away from another little girl and being aggressive just a few minutes earlier.
I said to my dd (not sure if this was okay to say to her or not) that we were leaving because the little girl pushed her and I didn't think that was very nice and I didn't want her playing with that girl. Between the little girl, the abruptness and the closeness to nap time, my daughter wanted to nurse, in the car, for 45 minutes until I could finally get her in the car seat, and she cried the way home until she fell asleep.
I'll admit I am very sensitive to things like that, it hurts my feelings too, and maybe I am too sensitive.
So...if this happens again...should I have said something to the mother? if yes, How should I phrase it? (I am not diplomatic, I am probably too blunt for most people)
What should I say to my daughter? I don't want my daughter to think that it was okay for anyone to push her.