That time I was kind of proud of my kid...

... for doing something he shouldn't have.

Today the boys and Malia were all playing downstairs. Mia was next to me, and Joey (our middle son) was goofing with her.  All of a sudden, she started screaming, Joey obviously hurt her. In a stern, and perhaps too loud voice I said, "JOEY  WHAT DID YOU DO???"  He said he, "Scratched Mia's arm".

As I was yelling (ahem, calmly disciplining) the other two boys ran up to see why their baby sister was crying.

"JOEY GET IN TIME OUT RIGHT NOW"- I said in the perfect whisper discipline voice (we can change things around to look prettier on blogs right?).

Joey was crying and began to walk to time out.

John Paul (our youngest) said, "Joey hurt Mia!" and before I could stop him he took OFF. I mean like a battering ram.  He completely leveled Joey to the ground. "YOU HURT MIA" he hollered.  Aaron was RIGHT behind him, "What did you do to my little sister!?!!?"

Meanwhile, I was holding Malia, trying to calm her cries.

"John Paul, Come here RIGHT NOW, JOEY GET IN TIME OUT"

After about a minute, everyone was in their respective corners and Malia's cries had settled.

Taking a deep breath I called John Paul forward for discipline.

But you guys. I'm not gonna lie. That's EXACTLY how I want my boys to react if someone hurts their little sister.  The immediate, almost animal like need to protect their sweet baby girl was awe-inspiring.  Is that wrong? I mean, I was legit proud of John Paul for immediately going after the person he thought hurt his sister.

I asked John Paul to sit for a minute, because I seriously had no idea how to discipline a situation like this.  You should have seen how hard he pushed him to the ground!

I next called Joey forward to explain to me why he scratched his sister.  "I was playing with her," he whimpered, "she was laughing at me, and then started crying".  I asked him to show me EXACTLY what he did.  He ended up showing me that he bent her finger back, which very easily could happen in play.  Joey said he was so sorry for hurting his sister.  He looked at Malia, apologizing in the cutest little boy voice you can imagine, breaking my heart with his cuteness as he ended with, "will you forgive me????"- (SHUT THE FREAKING FRONT DOOR).

Back to John Paul, my gentle giant. My 10 pound 11 ounce baby, who wears size 3T clothing and is just a brick house all around.  Could I really fault him for laying someone out who he thought hurt his sister?!?!?!  What would Jesus do people, what the heck would Jesus do?!?!?!

I ended up telling John Paul that I was proud of him for defending his sister.  I affirmed that no one should make his sister cry without hearing from her brothers about it.  I told him he shouldn't push his brother though, brothers don't hurt each other.


And that my friends is the day I was kind of proud of my kid (John Paul) for doing something he shouldn't have done (ramming his brother to the ground).

The.end.