This series of stories will be titled 'I'm surprised I turned out as well as I did, given my childhood ...' 46
Haydn could be a little shit sometimes. He was a bit like me… no boundaries and a lot of “I wonder what will happen if I…” about him.
His one saving grace was his cheeky smile.
When he was five years old, I had a call from school… yeah, THAT call. Five years old and he’s already getting into serious trouble.
He and another lad had been swearing at people through the school fence bordering the pavement. Someone had complained (quite right too!) and the boys had been hauled off to the head teacher.
Haydn’s dad and I went up to school, thoroughly ashamed.
The feelings of being in trouble as a kid come surging back to haunt you, even as an adult, especially when you’re standing in front of the head teacher’s desk.
I really did feel like a kid again – and I hadn’t done anything wrong!
Swearing at an old lady!
Right!
We took Haydn straight to the police station. We explained to the officer in reception what had happened and what I wanted to happen next.
Lock him in the cells to show him what happens to bad lads!
Yeah, ok, I wouldn’t have let them lock him up, but I did want to show him what happened.
The consequences of our actions.
The police officer gave him a stern lecture. I pointed out that he wouldn’t like it if someone swore at his grandma and he agreed.
“Well, that lady is probably someone’s grandma,” I said. That seemed to hit home.
I told him he couldn’t play with that little boy any more and I’d be angry if he got into any more trouble, especially if he got into any more of the same trouble, with the same little boy.
A few years later, Haydn was at big school, so he was at least 11 – I believe he was around 14.
He was walking home and he saw two boys (brothers) from his school (at least a year or so older than him) kicking another lad who was on the ground.
Haydn waded in to stop them from kicking the downed lad.
The two bigger boys decided they could take on Haydn too. One took a swing at him and Haydn dodged and countered. The other boy took a swing too and received the same treatment.
A lot of shouting went off and the lads both threatened to give Haydn a kicking, but the other lad had recovered enough by then and he’d got up, so it was two against two and the brothers did not like those odds, especially since one of their opponents had just bested them both on his own.
They left the battlefield with promises of telling their mother and she’d come and sort out Haydn’s mother.
Haydn helped the lad home and his mother thanked Haydn.
She told Haydn to make sure he told me what had happened and that’s what he did.
The downed lad was the same boy I’d forbidden Haydn to play with at school all those years ago. It turns out, his mother had told him the same. “Do not play with Haydn again!”
Haydn had no sooner finished telling me about the attack and his rescue mission than there was a knock on my front door.
“That’ll be the brothers’ mum, they live just down the street,” he said.
Fore-warned is fore-armed, I always say.
I opened the door to an angry woman. She wanted me to punish Haydn for attacking her two boys.
“Not gonna happen,” I said, crossing my arms.
“He attacked my two boys!”
“No, he stopped them attacking another boy,” I said. “In fact, he stopped them kicking that boy when he was on the ground. Your two are brave little bastards, aren’t they?”
I think I shocked her with my language.
“I’ll call the police!”
“You do that,” I said, nodding. “I think you’ll find that they will be the ones in trouble for attacking a lad mob-handed and Haydn will only be praised for stopping them. Go on, give it a go.”
If I’d have had the phrase, “Off you fuck!” to mind, I’d have used it ;)
I found out via the school-yard grapevine (Dani) that the woman did indeed phone the police.
Two monkeys on Gibraltar
She was told that her boys would probably be charged with assault if she went further with it.
What the bully-brothers didn’t know was that Haydn had been taking boxing lessons. I figured it would give him something to do, keep him out of trouble, keep him fit and teach him some self-discipline. He did enjoy boxing, but I think he discovered girls and enjoyed that aspect of his youth even more.
I know I raised a cocky little bleeder, but his heart is certainly in the right place and if he has no worries about jumping in when the odds are against him, in order to protect someone that was downed and receiving a literal kicking, then I don’t mind so much that he still has no boundaries, he still has a lot of “I wonder what will happen if I…” about him and he can still be a little shit (even though he’s almost 6ft and taller than me).
I raised a brave lad with a heart of gold and of that, I am proud.
@michelle.gent before I leave a comment, I say, your picture is very good as a child and your (child) family.
talking childhood. at that time, where I have no telecommunication tools like now (phone). so when I do naughty at school, the teachers can not contact my parents directly. so it takes time to find my family. different from you @ michelle.gent in your childhood is complete with telecommunication equipment, so very easy to contact by teacher, if do naughty.
in my opinion, it is not appropriate to bring a child to a polio office, because the child still needs a strong upbringing, I think the children are naughty, because he does not know himself, they still need a long time to understand and change for the better .
thanks for sharing @michelle.gent
My son needed a short, sharp shock to get him out of those habits. As it happened, it didn't entirely work out.
Kudos to Haydn for taking on those two boys. It is amazing that the two friends you tried to break apart years before had gravitated together once more. Destiny perhaps? My oldest son is much like Haydn and has a keen sense of justice. All my boys took Ninjitsu and Kempo. While the oldest was in secondary school (about 15, I think) he saw a much smaller boy being tormented and shoved into a locker by a group of much larger hooligans. He stood back and summed up who was the ringleader and called him out. The tough guy wanted to fight. My son, as cool as a cucumber challenged the guy to balance his partially consumed can of soda on his head. Made a bet he couldn't do it. That was enough. Target placed on thoughies' head and before he even realised what had happened my son had kicked the can off his head barely ruffling a hair. Needless to say the group quickly dispersed and my son could release the poor captive from the locker...
What a HERO!
@michelle.gent . I think I like this part of your series. Always interesting and educative. There is always something for me to learn from it. Is a father of two (6yrs plus boy and 4years plus girl), I really need something like this.
Have actually started teaching the boy how to be responsible and not to be a bully more reason why I bought him a dog. I can say is really learning a lot.
Just like you I am also a proud father.
Haydn is such fine man that look calm facially but thank God you thought him all that then. At least he can also teach the younger ones.
What a proud mother you must be to have a good son like him.
I think there is a part of this post that talk about BULLYING and have taken it up to do more post about it.
I also like the part that you threaten him with been locked up in cell. If I may ask "are you actually going to do that?" lol
It is so funny that you always have a way of passing your message across and Is good that you have done that again and have also learnt something from it.
Thank you for sharing this
Always your fan @optimistdehinde.
If the police officer had allowed it, I would have shown him exactly what he could be looking at if he didn't start behaving.
My parenting may be a little outside of normal methods, but I think they've worked :)
A very happy family @michelle.gent, hopefully you become a good mother for her child's future.
Hmm... My kids are adults now :)
Lovely, i had no other option than to follow you,well done, thanx a lot for sharing.
Thank you :)
Haha! I love that gif.
Great post. Thanks @michelle.gent.
Great post. i enjoyed every minute of it
Great to see your post again.....according to me Everything is different when you’re a child: the trees are higher, the colours are brighter, and every new day is more interesting that the last. Even more importantly, some things happen that stay in our memory for a long time — in fact, sometimes they end up being with us forever.
For those who remember those moments from their childhood, Bright Side collected the following beautiful anecdotes — from the amusing to the sublime and touching. Maybe something similar happened to you as well?
“Memories of childhood were the dreams that stayed with you after you woke.”
“Don't you wish you could take a single childhood memory and blow it up into a bubble and live inside it forever?”
Yes. Thank you :)
This is such a nice manifestation and establishment of the pure, animal instincts to protect your offspring, merged with the contemporary post-modern society in which being physically aggressive is looked at as powerful and "cool". I loved reading it especially because I can picture a mother beaming with pride while putting her thoughts about her son into words. X
I didn't want to show my kids that aggression and violence is the only way to stop violence. It isn't. You have to work clever and be smarter than that :)
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No... that's not happening.