All these planets in Aries and Mars in Pisces… and someone just shot my kid with a BB gun right under my nose.
Yep, we had a new kid over here today, it’s Spring Break. Nice enough kid, what do I know?
6:00 rolled around, time for me to take Quirky Aquarian home, I asked the new kid if he needed a ride somewhere.
“I have my bike,” he said. Earlier, my son had introduced me and I shook the kid’s hand.
“Okay,” I said.
I went into the garage, Quirk and my son got in the car. They ride in the back seat together and when we drop, Quirk, Vid moves to the front. I noticed his cheeks were flushed and I mean they were red.
“What happened? You guys fighting again?” Quirk and Vid get into skirmishes but rarely serious.
“No, I’ll show you when we get home.”
At home I had to dog him about it. “Show me what?”
He finally lifted his shirt and he’s got a mark like nothing I’d ever seen before. “What is that?”
He explained the kid shot him with a BB gun. As details emerge, I find that the kid (about 9 years old), grabbed Vid, stuck the gun in his side and fired. This happened in the 90 seconds it took for me to walk through the kitchen and into the garage while the 3 kids went out the front and 2 of them met me at the car.
I called the soldier for instructions on how to handle this. I was so grateful I could because you know what? This stuff is beyond my comprehension.
Vid has an ice pack, if that were a different gun, he’d be dead.
Good grief!! Good job for the kid that he had gone by the time you found out! I’m not sure what I would have done if he had still been there – no wonder he wanted to fly out of there on his bike! His future as an adult looks promising!!!
Vid had better take some time off school when Mars moves into Aries!!
oh criminy. wtf??
yeah, it’s just a little much I’d say. Turns out he shot him in the living room which means I was in the kitchen, other side of the wall, a dozen feet away.
I told you (on the boards) this Venus Rx hits me and mine HARD. I have quite a bit of fear actually. It’s just been no joke at all around here and we are nowhere near through it.
How scary! I hope Vid’s okay! Oh man I would be so upset.
((((hugs)))), Elsa, for you and Vid. Hope everything turns out alright.
It’s very gross. It’s just stupefying. I am very feminine and I have a boy child here who is very Yang. He’s got significant Aries – Moon and ascendant in yang signs.
This is not something I would have seen coming – it’s called single mother denial / delusion. You think these boys are going to grow up with girl problems because that’s what you did and you are so wrong… or at least I am and this is being proven to me IN BOLD.
Vid is a boy, going to be a MAN. He’s just not going to have it go any other way and so I am encountering this.
I am on the record having said at first glance at his chart when he was a day old, ‘He is going to have to survive his childhood…”
His dad was stunned (so was I, that I said that) but it has proved enormously challenging… just freakishly difficult, his life has been and this is in spite of my best efforts and total devotion.
My brothers used to shoot at each other with these BB guns too, once one of them hit the other in the temple and my mom had to pull out the bullet (no doctor in the valley)… and that wasn’t due to violence on TV because there was no TV at that time, so I guess it was just this Marsian energy. None of them has ever been violent later. It’s important to teach kids that it’s dangerous and evil to shoot at people, even with these BB guns, and that they could cause deep pain or death. Heaven forbid, I’m happy that nothing happened to your son!!!
Vid is secure in his relationship with you. You can tell by the fact that he wanted to hold the pain, worry and shock inside himself until he was able to tell you himself. He also knew that you would find a solution. Grown up boy you have there. More mature than most. He’ll be able to deal with anything the world throws at him . Oh (((Elsa))))X
Geez. I’m sorry that happened to him.
“Grown up boy you have there. More mature than most. He’ll be able to deal with anything the world throws at him ”
Thanks, Lynn. I know it but I never wanted this for him. I mean, when I decided to have a baby I did not want his life to be like this.
he’s going to be a very VERY good man and I hope he will be happy. I also hope something terrible does not befall him because guess what… something terrible has happened to him time and time again and I mean, since he was 2 weeks old.
This kid is going on 10 years old and has 10 years of hard labor in and very little other reward other than er… self esteem that has been earned.
That’s a big deal, if will serve him later but it;s not worth much in his age range. The kid skipped a grade, he’s younger than everyone and by far the most mature.
“I have a BB gun.”
“If you do have a gun you better no shoot it in here, or outside either,” my son said. Not bad for never having been in the circumstance. “Do you really have a gun?”
“Yes, I’ll prove it to you,” he said, pulling it from his pocket, putting it up against his side and pulling the trigger.
That fast.
In the future, that kid is going to hurt someone – I’d bet on it. I mean, he hurt my son today, but you know what I mean. When that kid is 12, the gun will be real.
thankfully all is well. sending lots of white light.
oh no-my thoughts to Vid—he sounds amazing. I’m glad everything’s okay.
That’s why I don’t understand why they sell these BB guns for kids, because a weapon is actually something to be used. It doesn’t make sense to sell any kind of weapons and then expect people not to use them. What is true for real weapons is true for BB guns too, and worse, since kids normally don’t have real enemies, they start creating them, so they can try the toy. They should ban these “toys” and leave real weapons for adults with the corresponding license/instruction.
It’s good that I never had kids because it would be really hard for me not to mother-bear-slap the other kid upside the head.
I don’t know how parents do it.
Well I didn’t even know it happened. I thought I was the mother, organizing 3 boys get home for dinner… and that’s it.
yeah but you do now. I don’t think I could restrain myself from going over to that kid’s house and jerking a knot in his tail.
*speechless*
i can relate to the difficulty wrapping one’s head around the boy’s world as a single mom… another reason it’s good to have an honest man around 😉
jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezus.
*HUGS* to Vid . . thats ridiculous. And kudos on however you handled it I woulda wanted to go after the other kid and shoot him right back
Crazy. I’m sorry that happened to your son, Elsa. I don’t know what I would do.
Holy crap! I’m so sorry that happened to Vid. *hugs* to you both, Elsa…I don’t know how I’d handle that either… 🙁
WTF??? sorry just saw red for a second on your behalf.
Oh man, I had such a Cancer Mars moment I started getting furious without even reading your post. Not that it changes anything, now that I’ve read it, I’m still furious.
What kind of kid fires a gun into another kid’s ribcage? Even in jest? OMG I’m so, so sorry.
I’d be going f-ing crazy. Elsa, I really wish I could do something for you. Mine just turned 10 so I can really empathize. My head is spinning. Ok, so:
1. Do the parents of this kid know what happened?
2. Why is this kid carrying a gun, I really don’t care that it’s a BB gun, you can blow up somebody’s eye with that.
3.I would take Vid to the hospital and get a record of this.
4. File a police report because I doubt it is legal for people to be shooting other people EVEN AMONG CHILDREN.
5.Sue somebody– you better stop this kid and his parents/family dead in their tracks, and that is not a play on words.
No excuses, no explanations, no poor confused kid being a kid and unaware– this is an act of violence that CANNOT be ignored.
People (not you Elsa, I mean in general) have this warm and fuzzy idea of childhood and assume that no one is bad and blah blah blah– and the children are our future (BARF), and OMG “It’s for the CHILDREN”; then you see the crazies and weirdoes and violent types who demonstrated all kinds of these tendencies in childhood and the light goes on when the body parts are found in the freezer.
We are talking GUNS and SHOOTING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.
There is nothing to discuss. MY GOD.
Hugs, Elsa.
Thank God Vid’s okay. That kids knows better, I hope you told his parents so they know what their raising.
If you feel comfortable, I would love hearing what the soldier advised. A man’s perspective would be really useful in this situation.
That’s very upsetting! <<>>
I dont even know what else to say. wtf??
I find especially #3 and #4 from Pixie Dust as right on. Pretty soon those boys will all forget it happened or say its all okay only out of kid focus, impatience embarrassment or exhaution, and this could float by nary a lesson learned.
Holy crap. Poor kid. Did the other kid intend to shoot him? I hope his parents ream him a new one regardless.
Haha this made me smile. Boys will be boys. He’ll get over it Elsa… he probably has already. And I hope you do, too… these things happen one way or another and mothers just have to learn to let go when they do.
However, if you’re worried about the BB gun, you might want to have a chat with Quirk’s parents and ask them if they’ve talked about “Martial Etiquette” with their kid… ie no pointing that thing in people’s faces.
I wouldn’t make it inquisitorial: more a matter of I-just-wanted-to-check-with-you. But that’s me, and you might think of a better way of bringing it up…
And PixieDust… there’s no way you can sue a 10-year-old for shooting another 10-year-old. Personally: Nor should you be able to.
These are kids we’re talking about – not vicious, bloodthirsty monsters.
There’s a point where your caution cripples your kid (girl OR boy). They end up having to grow up long after everyone else is done with it – all because of overzealous parents.
That’s my opinion. But hey – Whatever bakes your buns.
Rob it wasn’t Quirky Aquarian who shot Vid.
I read “Quirk and Vid”… ugh. Sorry. I woke up about ten minutes ago. I thought Quirk was someone separate from Quirky Aquarian…
ouch, omg :/ that’s terrible. I’m so sorry, hope you get to the bottom of this with his parents.. what a nightmare.
Well I just woke up too – I am so sorry this happened, and thank God he is okay. You can debate me to hell and back again, and no-one will ever change my mind – I HATE GUNS!!! And that is why – only one second, less than that, all it takes to wipe someone out. And “boys will be boys” is bullshit – I am sure your son would have NEVER done that to anyone, as sure as I am that my son would never have. Something is most definitely wrong with that kid – keep him the hell away from your son, that is sure. Again, I am so glad he is okay!!
first, i’m so sorry abt this, i overslept this morning and couldn’t respond quickly to the blog… so that gave me the rest of the day to think abt it..and i did…what i came up with is…. the first thing i would do (if it’s possible) is call or contact the boy’s parents and explain what happened and see how they respond….’cuz if my son did something like that and someone called me …well, i would drive right over there with my son and watch him apologize… with ground rules laid right then and there …. clear in front of all parents & save waterguns, NO MORE GUNS…..no two ways about it
i wouldn’t hold another playdate with the kid until i met with the parents…i would not brush it over
Uh Rob, 10 yr. olds can’t sue other 10 yr. olds, but are you serious in thinking that this can go on– SHOOTING somebody– and there is no law against that? Their parents have every right to do so.
Yeah, as you’re smiling– mothers need to let this kind of thing slide, riiiight– it is a normal rite of passage for boys to be shooting each other. That is completely asinine.
You seem to be quite relaxed about Vid getting shot, Rob– I have an idea. You might want to think about becoming a motivational speaker who travels around reassuring all the Moms in the ‘hood that they, like you, should be “smiling” when their sons shoot each other so playfully– boys will be boys, wink, wink!
Teaching your children that violence is not play does not “cripple” them, it’s what makes them civilized members of civil societies. Take a look around the world and see where guns exist and personal liberties do not– they are hardly places anyone would want to live.
This kid has NO concept of boundaries and rights, no self-control, has already internalized the idea that it is ok to have a gun and to use it. I would not consider myself overprotective to keep my son away from someone like that, I would consider it my RESPONSIBILTY.
Maybe one day when you need a good laugh you’ll have the good fortune to witness kids ganging up on a weakling, taunting each other, knocking the glasses off a “four-eyes”. Maybe topped off with a good old fashioned BB gun to the eye!
Because that’s what REALLY makes boys turn into men.
That was not boys will be boys. That was … well it was wrong. *hugs* I hope Vid’s bruises heal up quickly and I am grateful that it was “only” a BB gun. Holy cow …..
I second the idea of filing a police report. I feel this kid may need some negative feedback that’s bigger and scarier than what his parents are able to give him.
Is Vid alright today? Just bruising, I hope. Curious to hear what the Soldier said.
OMG I am so sorry! How frickin’ scary! And I third that idea–that kid needs to learn a hard and fast lesson… otherwise he will end up killing someone one day. Obviously that child has never been shown gun safety. Besides who lets their kid run around with a BB gun anyway?! I say you file a complaint, Elsa. This is very serious.
I’m a typical Scorp Moon mother–the “smother”–and if I get a bad feeling about a kid then we don’t hang out with them now. Last year at a neighbor kid’s birthday party, a 10 year old girl (whose mother later admitted she has “mental” problems) pushed my son down on the ground (he was five) and kicked him square in the stomach. I was LIVID and yelled at the kid you don’t EVER beat up another child, much less one younger! Her mother is not the type to discipline b/c she worries about them not liking her. People are so afraid to discipline these days when I think it’s causing serious problems.
I’m so sorry!
I am so sorry that this happened to Vid. I hope he is recovering well physically. I am sure the emotional aspect of this incident will not heal as quickly as a very nasty bruise. I just thank god he didn’t get the shot in his eye or anywhere on the head.
This is not a boys will be boys thing imo no matter what relationship this kid has with Vid. It shows a disregard for another and seriously stupid lack of responsibility. If a child can’t think of the consequences or reason about what his actions can do, he should not have the weapon. The likelihood is that this child has already used the weapon on domestic animals and his disregard of the welfare of shooting Vid, shows he should be stopped by whatever legal or just plain intervention possible.
I am Canadian and while I know a BB gun doesn’t fall into the gun law, it should. I have a major problem with the whole firearms thing in the US. There is just a very weird mindset on the whole damned thing.
This sounds terrible. I don’t know what a BB gun is though – can someone explain? I don’t live in the US.
Bella – it shoots small pellets with… pretty significant force.
(the pellets are called BB’s.”
This page explains what a BB gun is very well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BB_gun
Yikes – that sounds nasty. I really hope he is ok.
my brother killed rodents with bbs… they’re not insignificant…
PixieDust, you somehow made this personal, which it wasn’t.
I never said I condoned it. It’s going to happen regardless of whether mothers say something or not… “it” not necessarily being shooting others with BB guns but general roughhousing…
The gun was used because it happened to be there. If Elsa or any other mother doesn’t want their sons exposed to them, I’m sure they’re more than capable of going about informing the relevant parties.
But if it wasn’t a gun, it would have been something else. And this doesn’t necessarily mean the kid is crazy. It just means he hasn’t matured to the point where he takes other people into account adequately and that he doesn’t know where to draw the line yet. He’ll learn, eventually, or not, but that’s beside the point.
To expect the average child to act like a grown-up isn’t reasonable. Vid, and others like him, may be able to do it – but the average kid? Nope.
However, I’m assuming (since Elsa says she is big on manners) that she wouldn’t go about trying to inform other parents how to raise their children. It’s just not a thing to do. So the best way to go about bringing it up (if she was to bring it up) would be to mention it as a by-the-by. In my opinion.
And if she doesn’t want Vid around the kid, that’s up to her, and all she has to do is inform Vid, right? No need to involve the other parents, unless she plans on allowing Vid access to him.
As for violence in general. I’ve had more than my fair share of it. I’ll spare you the boring details. I’m sure I’m laughing right now at the image of a group of kids ganging up on the defenseless one. Oh the joy!!
Legally, it depends on where in the world this is, but 10-year-olds don’t usually have any kind of legal culpability. Courts recognise that 10-year-olds aren’t to be blamed (in 99.9% of cases) and that to do so would be… to expect a child (with a child’s responsibility) to behave as responsibly as an adult.
And PixieDust, I never said that trying to instill non-violence in your child ‘cripples’ them. I said that to hold their hand in every life exchange they have – whether positive, negative or neutral – is to deny them the chance to grow up.
Apparently my opinion – which is not to overreact and to see this thing in the context of Vid’s whole life – makes me a malicious, sadistic bastard.
PixieDust, thank you for putting me in my place.
holy shit.