“Oh, that just means he likes you”

[calimary]

45. When our daughter was a little girl, she took karate after school. There was a little boy in there

who was a budding bully, doted on by his mom - one of those who never told him "no." He threw his weight around because his family was wealthy and was paying for him, his sister, the mom, and BOTH the two nannies to take karate class. And oddly enough, he took a liking to Elizabeth. And he was always messing with her and bothering her and trying to hit her and she didn't appreciate it. And he fancied himself the toughest in class - especially during sparring class. He was VERY aggressive, and had NO self-esteem issues whatsoever (except for maybe an obscene excess of self-esteem). At one particularly bothersome moment, my husband took her aside and told her that if the kid was really starting to push her or hit her or play especially rough in class, it was okay to hit him back, or hit him, period. Her face brightened and got this evil little impish grin all over it. You could see that she was taking this in deeply and processing it most carefully. It looked like she was feeling super-empowered by what her daddy had told her.

Eventually, the whole family dropped out of the karate school for various reasons and the little boy did not complete the black belt course that Elizabeth and the rest of her mates did. But it was really neat to see her get that sense of empowerment from her dad. That's my guy! So proud of her - and of him, too! That's when I started realizing that OUR daughter was never gonna be bullied. To this very day!