Escalating Violence

One morning my three year old son came in from the back yard howling. The little three year old girl next door had bitten him on the arm. It was quite a bite. Drew blood. But within 15 minutes I'd cleaned him up, given him a popsicle and we were on our way back out the door - where I had a nice talk with his little friend.

A while later the child's mother was banging on the door. There she was, obviously furious, with her little girl cringing behind her legs.

The woman told me that her child had to learn a lesson so she wanted (demanded) that my son bite her child. I'll never forget these words. "I want him to do it hard. I want him to take out a chunk."

I was appalled. First by her wanting this pain inflicted on her child - but even more that she was demanding that my child do it.