Today was sorta rotten.

We woke up today for the first time in a long time with nothing much to do. Kennedy was supposed to have gymnastics but she wasn't feeling well for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon so I didn't think I should take her. So, against my better judgement and only because it seemed too wet and cold outside I took the kids to the mall. I can't begin to tell you the last time I took the kids to the mall, we never go there. I have taken them to Target no more than twice in 6 months but we just don't go into the mall. Well, we had nothing to do today so we ended up there. I was just going to go to Target but they begged me to go and play on the toys. As we were in Target I saw a mom with a child. I sort of knew this mom from a baby n me class. We made small talk for a moment and then she started screaming at her son while we were standing there. I felt horrible for her son and I was embarrassed that she would just start screaming like that. I kinda waved goodbye and we were on our way. We ended up running into them again in Target, once in the food court and in the family bathroom. Each time we saw them she was yelling at her kid. My heart was breaking for this kid who was not quite three years old and doing nothing to speak of that a 3 year old shouldn't be doing. I hadn't had the best morning with my girls and, although I wasn't screaming at them, I felt bad that it hadn't gone better. I sat Madison down and briefly talked to her about how sad I thought it was when parents yelled at their kids so much. I'm not sure I should have done that but I could see the look on her face when she saw this boy being yelled at so much. I realize everyone parents differently and I am nothing even close to perfect but I feel so badly for kids who have to grow up getting yelled at all the time.
As if this weren't enough to make our mall excursion bad enough we stopped at the play area on our way back to our car for just a few minutes. There was a lot of kids there and we had to get going but I told them they could play for 5 more minutes. I sat down with the stroller in front of me. The kids were everywhere so I was kind of just looking around trying to locate my own kids when I heard this guy being a real jerk to, what I thought was, his own kid. He was saying something like, "that's just wrong, you shouldn't have done that". I saw Madison in his general vicinity and all the kids started getting really quiet. I wasn't sure what was going on so I stood up and saw Kennedy at the bottom of the slide laying down staring at this guy. Come to find out Madison had given her sister a push down the slide and she tumbled at the bottom. Madison shouldn't have pushed her sister but this man had NO right to talk to my kid that way. He had no right to even step in at all. I saw Kennedy and went over to her and asked what happened. The mad said she was pushed down the slide by.....THAT KID! while he was pointing to a hysterically crying Madison who was running over to me. I grabbed K up who had just started crying (because of this awful man) and Madison who was SO incredibly freaked out that some guy was talking to her like that. I didn't even know really what happened until Madison told me on the way home or I would have said something to that guy. As it stood I had two hysterically crying kids, one in each arm so we just grabbed their shoes and left. Madison told me in the car that he made her go and apologize to Kennedy. I don't know how all of this happened so quickly but there was so much chaos around that I just didn't see any of it. I felt horrible that this happened to her and guilty that I wasn't there to step in sooner. I know this kind of thing is bound to happen but it left me with a sick feeling in my stomach ever since this afternoon. I have such an emotional kid that I think I feel an added obligation to protect her even more than normal. I know I shouldn't try to protect her from all things that could potentially hurt her but it's so hard not to have that instinct, especially with a really emotional child.
So, the conclusion of this story is to STAY AWAY FROM THE MALL!
I did get to go out to dinner with some former co-workers tonight. It was lots of fun catching up and hearing what everyone is up to. One friend is recently engaged, one is heading to London in a few weeks for a two week vacation and the other one is doing lots of work with dog rescues, placing them with people so they don't get put to sleep. I love how everyone is doing such great stuff. I often feel like the boring mom but my job is important, even on a day like today.