Vicious, my new moniker

It goes without saying that most women will defend their children and try to protect them from harm even above their own well being. It also goes without saying (if you know me) that I will not tolerate even the slightest threat to my children, and that if you can not discipline your own children, please do not be surprised when I do it for you.

I've been bristling about this for a couple of days now, and just haven't been able to let it go, so perhaps with a little written retell of it I can get it out of my system.

A few days ago I had my girls at a local amusement park that has a sunken maze. One of the entrances to this sunken maze is a covered area about 4 feet square with a slide that takes you down to the maze. When Sam walked up to it there were two boys there who told her she couldn't come in because it was their pirate fort. She continued in and they tried to block her way at which time I told them the park was for everyone and they could not prevent her from using it. There was a woman standing nearby, but she didn't say anything, so I assumed she was one the mother of one of the other children playing in the maze. As Sam was standing at the top of the slide the older boy said, "Let's push her" and he put his hand on her back. At this point I was very afraid that she was going to get pushed down the slide head over heals and I knew I couldn't get to her in time to stop it, so with a very firm voice I told the boy to take his hands off of her, and that no, he could not push her down the slide. He looked at me and didn't move, so I told him again (a bit more firmly) to take his hands off my daughter. He looked at me, took his hands off, but then started arguing with me that he was just going to push her down the slide. I told him she did not need help, and that he should not be touching other children. At this point, the nearby woman walks over and tells me that he was just trying to help her down the slide, that he wasn't going to hurt her. I calmly explained that I did not know this boy, nor did I know his intentions, and so I had to stop the activity. She then told me, "You didn't have to be so vicious!"

There was a bit more of a discussion which ended with me saying, "I have every right to protect my child" and her doing a lot of muttering under her breath, and taking her two boys away "until that family is gone".

So that's me, vicious. I might have a shirt printed up with "Just call me Vicious" for wearing whenever I take my kids out. It ought to put an end to any "friendly" altercations in the future.