When Kids Attack

Time for a Dad post. Let me start this by explaining that my daughter is 5 years old, a sweet, tiny little girl that loves to sing and play with her big brother, a second grader. She and I went to school today to pick him up when the following scene took place:

We enter the classroom and I notice my boy and a much larger kid wrestling, and it was apparent my boy was giving all he had to keep the kid at bay. I saw a flash shoot past me and before I know it my girl is on the kid and does something, not sure what, but something that sent the kid reeling and howling away. Conundrum. You see the rule in our house is take care of each other, if one of us is in perceived danger the unwritten rule is help first (that could mean many things, get a parent, teacher or all out full frontal assault). She chose the latter.

So I of course am billowing with fatherly pride at the sight of such unbridled sisterly love but also realize that I should at least feign some sort of discipline. I chose to have her apologize to the kid for being a bit too aggressive and all was well, no hard feelings. My son turned to the kid on the way out and said "sorry about my sister, she thought you were hurting me so she attacked black widow style (yes, that is an Avengers reference)". Sweet as a pea but with the dark undertones of a young man that knows he's a part of a viscious tag team combination.

We get in the car and I patiently explain to my daughter that boys tend to rumble like that, its normal, and no real malice was intended. I then explained that she would never be in trouble with me if her intentions were in the interest of helping her brother (this isn't the first time by the way, there have been other instances where she has perfected her head locking technique, all in the defense of her big brother, and of course he's always ready to step in for his little sister).

I end this post with slightly mixed emotions, but satisfied that my little ones really are listening to my questionable advice and I hope that this instinctive desire to protect each other will last long after I'm gone.