I go to Bible study every other Sunday night at my pastor’s house. Although my pastor and his family are really cool, normal people, it’s still a little nerve-wracking, since not only do *I* have to be on my best behavior, but my kids do too, and that’s a scary thing indeed.

Last night I kept hearing kids upstairs screaming my youngest son’s name. My husband went up there a couple of times to check, but he couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then, during the break, I overheard two older kids (probably ten and 12) talking about my son. They were saying things like he was absolutely crazy and a very bad kid.

Let me tell you, Love Shak-ers, that hurt. But I also knew it was entirely within the realm of possibility. My youngest son is 4 and has some behavioral issues. The biggest problem is that he gets all hyper and starts bouncing around the room and is very loud. We’re working on it- we think it’s partially due to a food allergy,and partially due to his sensory integration dysfunction but we also know he needs to learn to control himself- but hearing kids call my son names was very hurtful, especially knowing he is someday going to go to school and may face this kind of treatment.

I explained to the kids that he had developmental disabilities and asked them to please be nice and not call him names. The oldest kid then asked me if he could hit my son when he got out of control. I was floored. I told him in no uncertain terms that he may NOT hit my son and with that, the break was over.

I kept hearing screams from upstairs during the rest of the Bible study, and I decided to start asking my mom to watch my youngest son instead of bringing him to Bible study. When they took up the babysitting collection, I threw in about 3 times what I normally pay. I went upstairs to collect my son. And that’s where I got a surprise.

I told the preacher’s son, who was the babysitter that evening that I was very sorry for my youngest son’s behavior. The pastor’s son told me that it wasn’t my kid’s fault. The two older kids who I had overheard calling my son "crazy" were egging him on and getting my youngest son all spun up.

Another kid that was there confirmed that this was true. In the car on the way home, I asked my daughter and youngest son what had happened. My daughter then showed me the very bad rug burns on her elbows and back (we were at a stop light) that she had gotten from the older kids. And she told me about how badly they had treated my son.

I was unsure of what to do. I didn’t know for sure which parents these kids "belonged" to, so I called the pastor’s wife and told her what happened. She said she’d talk to the parents and make sure that before they came back, they had their behavior under control.

So it turned out alright, but I wonder if I could have handled it better. So tell me, Love Shak-ers, what would you have done?

[Photo, which has nothing to do with this post: Jeffraham Prestonian]