Bullied?

This morning, Bob sms me and asked if Tara cried when I left for work this morning. My MIL came over a couple of days ago and is now looking after Tara. She's not that attached to my MIL and in the morning for these 2 days, she would get really clingy with me and would bawl at the top of her voice when she saw me get ready for work. Somehow, she knew that when MIL is around, I will not be bringing her to my Mum's place.

Tara is very attached to my Mum, every morning when I bring her over to my Mum's, she will cling to my Mum tightly and won't let go for anyone, even me, yeah, me, her own mother. She's also happier at my Mum's because her 2 cousins cum playmates are there too. Unlike staying at home where her only companions are the old folks.

And back to the crying part, I told Bob she did fussed a little but I placed her in front of the TV, gave her a bottle of milk and left quickly, so I guess she's fine. Bob asked me if I felt sad when I have to leave the crying toddler, but I said it's not sadness, it's more like feeling bad that she's confined at home, knowing that she loves to go to my Mum's place.

Bob said that Tara will get bullied by her cousins when she's there. I told him that his little girl wasn't that nice and sweet either, having seen her snatched toys, hit my nephew, bit and shout at him etc. He said he don't like to see his kid being bullied and I said the kids are young, and stuff like these do happen, and I don't think she's being bullied, it's just that she can't "win" during snatching matches cos of her small frame. I told Bob that his kid have to learn how to deal with it. It's a growing process too.

Besides, I asked him if he's going to stop his kid from attending playgroups or kindies cos there's bound to be some bullies there. He said no, but still, he don't feel good knowing that her own cousins are bullying her. Well, kids are kids and you can't stop those shouting and snatching matches from happening right? I don't think I would want to see my kid retaliate by hitting or biting back, so it's up to my parents to impart the right behaviour to the kiddos. Besides, if the cousins start to hurt her, my parents will intervene too.

Moreover, I don't see that it will benefit Tara if she's going to be confined at home with the old folks either. She might be safe from the bullies (aka cousins) but she's got no one to play with. No matter how the folks tried to entertain her, nothing beats the fun of having kids her age. I asked Bob if he remembered how a friend's kid behaved when he got other little kids to play with for the first time? The friend's kid was constantly confined at home, but his is a worse case, his parents don't even bring him out for gatherings or outings. How is a kid like that going to react when he has other children around? It was quite chaotic that time, he went around pushing and biting the other children, not knowing that it's the wrong thing to do. He was simply too excited to see a group of other beings of his own age for the first time.

I'm rather bothered by what Bob had said, I'm worried he might start to resent my niece and nephew. Guess I gotta talk to him tonight.