Why?

Why do some children go out of their way to try to hurt others? I'm not going to upset myself by dissecting the whole episode again, suffice to say we went to the park today and I saw two children, probably about 9 or 10, try to hurt lots of children. When they tried to push Hermione off the top of a tall climbing frame I went over and asked them not to do that. They refused. Well, I was astounded at the way they spoke to me. Hermione started to cry. Not because she was physically hurt as I got there in time to physically help her to safety. She was crying because she had never heard anyone speak to me like that. I asked them to show me their parents as I wanted to speak to them. They refused but I later saw them leaving with two women.

What makes children behave this way? I don't buy into this 'children will be children' stuff. To my mind that devalues children - it's like saying they are intrinsically violent and spiteful which I'm sure they are not. Something is going wrong somewhere.

I decided to destress this evening by doing a bit of silk painting. Like many things I enjoy the process much more than the results. I'm not good at it but it does give me pleasure. I made this picture with half an apple rather than a brush.



We had a quiet bonfire celebration at home this evening. We made a small fire in the veg garden and Craig let off noise free fireworks which Miles enjoyed from inside. Afterwards we all dined on veggie hot dogs in buns and baked potatoes.

I forgot to mention that last week Hermione received a letter from the Local Authority advising her that she had won a special prize for her entry in the Longest Apple Peel Contest at the Library (yes, the one which I blogged about which was sellotaped in three places). The prize is a compost bin. She's delighted. I'm a little confused. The prize was advertised as a blender and we were very upfront about the sellotape - we even handed the peel in for inspection and measurement. I can only think this prize was for ingenuity. Anyway, she is absolutely made up about it and looking forward to it being delivered.