Am I allowed to raise my child?

Warning:  I'm bitching about something... this entry is not fun.  skip it if you dont want to hear the whine.


Today we went to the park.  I had our 9 month old daughter with me, so was letting our son have a little freedom to roam in the small area of the park that is fenced in for play equipment use.

I was just relaxing with the little one and watching the son off and on when 2 little girls come to their grandmother next to me and claim a boy had thrown sand in their eyes.  I asked the girls if the boy was wearing a brown shirt, to which they replied yes.  My son was the only boy wearing a brown shirt that day at the park.

I called him over and asked him if he had done that, he said no at first, but immediately corrected himself to yes when he realized the girls were there watching him.  I demanded he apologize and he refused.  I told him we are leaving either way but that he had better apologize to them.  He gave a very half hearted apology, claiming he had no idea how to do so.  Another outright lie.  The grandmother is actually seeming critical of my anger towards my son, and saying it's alright what he did and his half assed sorry was enough when he was only doing it to get more park time in.

The problem here is a simple one.  Society has left me in a damned if I do and damned if I do not situation.  I have learned in the past 6 years that no matter how strict you are with a child, if they are that type of child they will do whatever they please without a second thought, as if there were a disconnect between him and the consequences of his actions.  There are those people who watch me, and will claim that I am too late in being strict, although this is not the case for those that know me.  There are those who say I am being too harsh, however we have found that inches turn into miles with our son.  There are those who say I need to go easier on him, however this leads to even worse behavior over time (been there as well).

The reality is, the public has NO idea what dealing with a child like our son is like, and I truly tire of the judgement of others.  Save it for people who beat their children into submission.