Can you ever dislike a kid? I mean, can you dislike a kid that the very sight of that kid makes you feel sick within? I never thought that was possible until I realised some kids are as mean as adults are sometimes.

My daughter is growing up, and with each passing day going out more and more into the big-bad world. I always knew she would. But little did I know that the big bad would also involve children. I never thought I would have to worry about the behaviour of other kids too. Well, on some level, I did, perhaps. But that had all been pushed to the back of my subconscious. Having been subjected to brutal bullying by a few girls from my class and even by the parents of a girl, just because I used to top, I suppose I always knew kids could be mean. But I must have forgotten. Also, I have always been a loner and someone who didn’t need many friends to be happy. I have had one best friend throughout my life and never felt the need for more. In college, I was part of a big group of friends, but even then, when I finally stood up when being taken advantage of, I was left alone. Suffice it to say, I have, in fact, always been hurt or let down by so-called friends, so I became so self-sufficient that I never longed for company. But I forgot that my daughter is not me. She might need friends, as most kids do.

But now I feel sick to my stomach when I realise that there will be kids who will make my daughter feel miserable. So, to answer my question, yes, it is possible to dislike a kid if that kid turns out to be the bully or the mean kid who makes your daughter cry. It is true. It will trigger a kind of aversion unlike any you have felt before. But then you will not know what to do because how can you, as an adult, fight all that disgusting nastiness in a kid?

Kids fight one day and make up the next. I know that. But a few somehow find pleasure in making others feel bad. When my daughter came crying home yesterday because of this boy who has been making her feel miserable for a while now, I tried everything I could think of to make her feel better. I even told her how that boy was vile like Malfoy and his friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, and it was his loss that he would grow up being someone people avoided or disliked. Well, it’s true no point sugar-coating it. I even told her how she has so many wonderful friends at school. She shouldn’t feel miserable because of one. She is friends with so many wonderful kids in school and in our apartment, which is what she should remember. But she is a child. All she wants is to play without having to deal with such obnoxiousness day in and day out. What can I do apart from warning him not to do it again? At such times, I wish I had magical powers. I mean, there is a lot I want to do for which magic would come in handy. But that’s wishful thinking.

If he doesn’t stop, I know I’ll tell his parents. But will he listen? Do such kids ever listen? Can they ever change? I don’t think so. The only viable option is to try to make my daughter strong and make her fight back. It’s simple. If your kid hurts my kid, my kid has permission to fight back. And I won’t stay quiet either. How successful I’ll be in making my daughter fight back? Well, only time will tell. For now, I feel worried when it’s time for her to go out and play after school. It makes me wish she was a loner like me, happy with her books and toys. But she isn’t. If anything, she is the opposite of me. She needs to be with friends. So, when those very friends boss her around or bully her or make her cry, I feel a sort of helplessness I have never felt before. Or, maybe once, those days she was in the NICU just after birth. But these will be battles she’ll mostly have to fight on her own. And that scares me. It does.

It’s funny I had just written the other day that I have nothing to add to the posts on motherhood or being a parent. Well, I guess not. There will always be something which will probably bring me here to write down and deal with, the only way I know how. Well, wish me luck. I need it. It’s not easy getting your daughter ready for fights in life, no matter how trivial those fights might seem on the outside.