Ever want to just smack someone? I wanted to do that yesterday but I'm adult now so I didn't.
The part of this that's bothering me is not that I didn't smack this woman, but that I didn't put her in her place verbally. I was tired, and I didn't have a good put down ready.
Yep, twenty four hours later that's still irking me. That's how I roll.
Here's what happened.
Mrs. Smug-Toned woman and I were watching our eight and nine year old girls run around the playground when she smugly informed me that my youngest daughter is a tomboy, not a girly-girl like the rest of the girls she was playing with.
My daughter was in capris and a t-shirt with her wavy thick hair all mussed up and out of its ponytail holder. She was dusty and bright eyed and in my eyes, beautiful.
The rest of her buddies all had sun dresses on and had their hair scrapped back tight but as far as I could tell they were all playing just as hard as my youngest.
I stuttered in reply at first that I didn't think my daughter really was a tomboy.
Then I said, well maybe she is I hadn't really thought about it.
Then I said, even if she is, that's not a bad thing.
What really got me was not what was said but what this woman's tone implied. Her tone implied that somehow my daughter was in some way uh, wrong.
Um, no.
Could my baby be a tomboy? Possibly. Let's see.
My youngest plays sports. Yep, she does and she's good at some of them too. She's high energy; loves to play and I encourage it. Sue me.
My daughter also wears pants to school most days. Um, I know a lot of the other girls in her grade only wear the school uniform skirts but shesh, we live in Canada, it's cold. My kid wears pants 'cause that's what I buy her to wear. Now that it's warming up she'll start wearing her skirts again.
Finally, my baby is VERY outgoing and confident. Is that supposedly a male or tomboy trait? She's not rude or bossy so I let her be.
My youngest however can also be a girly-girl.
She sings all the time. She wants to be a singer. If you ask her, she'll tell you she's going to go to The Juilliard School one day to study music.
My daughter takes three different types of dance and loves to be on stage in full makeup and costume for the recitals.
My baby's room and most of her non-school clothes are pink and purple. That's not a tomboy thing, right?
Is my youngest a tomboy or a girly-girl or something else entirely?
Does it matter?
She's a little girl, my little girl. Does she need to be labeled?
Other smug toned Mama? Leave my daughter alone. She's perfect.
And other Mama? I never really liked your kid or you anyway. You're both prisses. Go out and have some fun will ya?
I hate it when I haven't got a good put down ready when I need one.
Next time I think I'll just hit the other Mama.