Something happened to my 15yo daughter last night that was infuriating, but also left me flabbergasted. She is a swimmer and does a lot of swim clinics and intramural swimming outside of the high school season. Currently she’s in a mixed ages stroke clinic. I’d estimate that the youngest kids are maybe 12/13 and the oldest are a couple in high school, including her. So after practice they obviously go off to the locker rooms to change. Last night my daughter comes out just fuming and tells me about how a much younger girl (about 13) walked up behind her, called her name, and then spit in her face! Then she and two other girls her age ran off giggling.
Obviously we let the coaching staff know and will let them handle it. It’s a disappointing occurrence, but nobody was injured.
My first thought though was “I would NEVER!” When I was 13 I was scared to even talk to high schoolers, let alone assault them! And it’s not like my daughter is small or weak or regularly targeted by bullies. She’s a tall, strong, physically mature young woman who is a team leader.
It got me thinking about situations I’ve been in with other people’s children and stories I’ve heard from teacher friends about how kids behave. I know I sound like an old lady, but kids these days! No respect for authority or social norms, no fear of consequences, no regard for boundaries. I guess that’s not just kids, but adults too. But this was just a situation that left me scratching my head. A literal WTF moment.