Hurt feelings

Antonio came bounding off the bus to me as he usually does this afternoon and we walked back home. As he was unpacking he said he was STARVING. Which is weird because he rarely even eats his whole lunch.

So we unpacked and he ate a banana.

He asked for another because he was still hungry. I agreed and as he was attempting to peel it he became very frustrated, more than normal. I offered to help him peel it. As I began to open it he got very upset. Upset because he couldn't open it. I told him it was ok and that sometimes they are hard for me as well. He didn't take that response very well.

He ate his second banana and once he was finished I asked him to take out his homework, as we do everyday after school.

He got very upset again. I asked him if he was ok and what was wrong. He said very upset, that he was still hungry and didn't want to do his homework.

However, he didn't want any other food and then claimed he was just mad. I told him if he needed to get his anger out he could on a pillow or the couch. I was surprised to see him pick up the pillows and hit the couch with them a few times all while crying.

Clearly something was wrong.

We sat and talked about his day. He insisted nothing bad happened to him or his friends. We talked about if anything happened at school he didn't like and thats where he filled me in.

He has a friend that he always plays with at recess. Rarely do they play with other kids. Well today at second recess, this friend told Antonio that he "didn't wan't to play with him, he wanted to play with someone else instead". Antonio promptly started crying harder while telling me this and said that it hurt his heart and that it hurt his feelings "so much" that this friend didn't want to play with him. I asked him what he did then and said he just played alone which made him feel lonely and sad.

Ugh...

Talk about heart breaking. I tried my best to keep it together but it was hard. Once we were over the fact that his feelings were so hurt I asked him why he didn't just play with them. He said he didn't know what they were playing or how to play it. I asked him why he then didn't just go look for his other friends to play with and he said he didn't know where to look for them and he really just wanted to play with this particular friend. When you're 6 and everyone kinda looks the same I guess I see why you wouldn't but clearly we need to work on this.

Thank goodness I don't have a girl. As sensitive and big hearted as Antonio is, I am guessing a girl would be much harder.

So he agreed that if this happens again tomorrow he will just ask to play with them. Let's hope. I highly doubt this friend was mean about it or even knew what had happened. They are just 6 and 7 year olds. They are barely thinking of others and how their actions affect others at this point. I will admit, I had to reel back my Mama Bear instincts though, it killed me to see his feeling hurt so badly. It does however, help to know this friend a little and know that he does actually like Antonio back and is a really sweet kid. But man, when someone does hurt Antonio, on purpose, I can see I could be trouble. Ha!

Happily, he hasn't mentioned it since he first told me so hopefully he has already forgotten about it. Lets hope tomorrow will be better at recess! :)