Jackassery

[jonsan]

Every Labor Day, Acworth (the city I live in) holds a Pioneers' Day festival. I have no idea what Pioneers have to do with Ferris Wheels or funnel cake or over-priced bottled water, but the fair is a great way to drop forty bucks in an effort to create some pleasant childhood memories for the little ones. We met with three other families and a

Comments

[swgaines]

Hi, it's the jackass here. Firstly, if a pseudorandom person you barely know commenting on your lj is bothersome to you, i apologize, but my only other avenue was to try to obtain your email address second or third-hand, and as it stands at the moment, i'm betting i'm not someone you want having that sort of personal information about you, so i'm going with this one

[jonsan]

I never assumed you were a jackass or a bully, just that you acted as a jackass and a bully in that particular situation. Your response shows level-headedness and maturity. You may know D and his parents very well, and he may be accustomed to that sort of response, but perhaps the reaction of a quasi-stranger could be of some benefit to you. Saying that to him, in the manner you said it, wasn't good. I won't harp on it, I don't have a hate-on for you, but I have learned to trust my instincts and that situation set off some red flags

[swgaines]

Fair enough. We're going to continue to disagree that saying it to him at that time "wasn't good" and whether or not i was being a jackass/bully in that particular situation, but people disagree. We seem to just disagree about this particular incident though. I do think D knows the difference with people that he knows well, but i still appreciate the general mindset, and if i weren't confident that he knew the difference, i wouldn't do it. I certainly don't do that sort of thing with kids i don't know about

[jonsan]

My apologies if I ever expressed the idea that differences can't exist without one side being wrong. I've been in plenty of situations where two opposing perspective or actions were both in the right.

I don't feel that I acted as a parent to Declan in that situation, simply as an adult witnessing an inappropriate interaction between another adult and a child. A 6 year-old cannot be a peer to an adult, and I can't think of a situation where I would be comfortable hearing an adult answer a young child's question of "why isn't this working" with "because you suck". I saw Declan's face and I caught the vibe in the moment, and I would respond the same way with any adult and any child.

My intention is certainly not to disempower you as a parent, or demoralize Declan (quite the opposite). I am more than happy to discuss this circumstance with you, Brian, Sean, and/or Erin (sp?), but I would prefer to do so in person. Misunderstandings can pop-up and quickly multiply given the lack of body language and tone present in this medium.

[jonsan]

Mmmmmm, drugs.

Give Brian my best, I wish him a speedy recovery. See you tomorrow.

J