The eve before school start...... boys v girls

I'm afraid to say I shouted at some small children today. Probably scared them half to death. Boys though, horrible little things (I have two brothers, I can say that....)

Only kidding (about the boys, not the shouting). This afternoon was going so well though - Sasha's last day at home before she starts school tomorrow. She had been really happy running about in the park with her snake (no, not a real one, silly, just a long fluffy thing on a stick that wiggles....), and then we had to go to school to collect big sister. Whilst waiting outside the main entrance, Sasha continued to play really nicely with one of the girls her age that she knows, and another younger sibling (also a girl, do you see where I'm going with this?!). The three of them were laughing and giggling happily together, running about with the 'snake'. Then some boys turned up, and within seconds the snake was broken. Fortunately this didn't cause a meltdown, as I retrieved the two pieces quite quickly and promised they would be fixed at home.

At this point then Sasha ran off down the ramp the other way, and was followed by the boys. A couple more minutes of playing followed, and then I suddenly noticed one of the boys give Sasha a little shove in the back. As I started to walk towards them, the other four boys all crowded round Sasha, and the biggest boy (from the year above) grabbed hold of her in a bear hug/wrestling type of way and then toppled her to the ground, so she fell and grazed her knees. I was running towards them at this point (they weren't even very far away!) and I shouted at the boys to stop, then asked them angrily if they thought that had been a nice thing to do, and if they would have liked it to happen to them. At this point Sasha was screaming and crying her eyes out, so I sat down with her for a big cuddle, and I'm sure all the other mums just thought she had fallen over.

It was a gut reaction from me, and not necessarily the right one, as I'm sure the boys weren't being naughty or evil, they were just indulging in a bit of chase and catch the girl. My worries for Sasha are much stronger though, as it brought home just how vulnerable she is, and how she wouldn't understand a potentially dangerous situation. In reality this kind of behaviour is worrying for all mums, particularly of girls or smaller/quieter boys I imagine, when the children are still so young and they just seem more fragile. To me though it opened up lots of thoughts of how things might become that much more difficult in the future for Sasha, when the children do start to mature and notice the obvious differences more. Probably her relationships with girls will end up being the ones we worry most about, as we won't be able to force friendships, and I think we all know that girls are a lot more complicated in their thinking!

Oh well, roll on first day of school tomorrow. Fingers tightly crossed that she will still actually want to go in the morning, and hasn't changed her mind. I wonder if she'll want to wear uniform or not?! I'm hoping to try and speak to the Cook in the morning, and pre-choose her school dinner, as that is actually the biggest worry of the day for me. At home her hot food is pretty much limited to chips and pasta shapes, with the odd pea thrown in! I should actually be preparing some info now about Sasha for the teacher and assistants, but just can't seem to settle down and do it. It's a shame I have to do it at all. In a way, they'll need to find out about Sasha and understand her for themselves, so I just hope they can find the time for that. I can tell them now, it won't be easy