Fight like a girl

He is all boy, but these were Mama's bibs. A long time ago!

When I was in second grade my teacher put my name on the board for fighting. Well, it wasn't really fighting. John Grable told the teacher that I was "fighting like a girl" because I stepped on his toes during recess because he wouldn't share the slide with me. Yes, I slammed my shoe down on his toes, he doubled over, and I got up the ladder without incident. Worked for me.
For some reason the concept of "fighting like a girl" stuck with me and then became an ironic term once I started teaching high school. At the adolescent level, breaking up boy fights is easy. Teenage boys want the fight to end because they know if a teacher or group of friends does not stop the hitting, only one thing will: death. Girl fights, now those-- you didn't mess with. I actually remember being reprimanded by my department head my first year because I broke up a girl fight on my own. I was hailed a tough cookie and a fool by my colleagues. For a girl to actually punch another girl in school, they are operating without any logic and nearly all rage. The adrenaline pumping in a teenage chick fight exceeds any NFL football game. Once girls get crazy, nothing is going to stop them. That is why when you see two gals being pulled apart they are still kicking and screaming--because they are out of their minds.

My boys have been beating up on me a lot lately. Tucker, with his fingernails that grow inches during his sleep, attacks my face and pulls my hair at every opportunity. I completely understand the "mom" haircut with this six month old. I am losing enough hair on my own, not to have it ripped out of my scalp by him. I have had gashes on my face and currently have two huge scrapes on my hands from his little razor blades. But like most boys, he knows when to stop. I can break up the fight easily.

Hudson, on the other hand, has reached an age where he fights more irrationally. If he gets upset, he makes this loud, "HHHUMPF!" noise and then usually follows that with a dramatic fall to the floor with a side of whining. This is a change from a couple of weeks ago where he multiple times a day would head butt me when angry. I did not deal with the head butting well since about 80% of the time I was carrying Tucker around. He headbutted our Mama's helper Sophie who is only about a foot taller than him and nearly knocked her to the ground. I think the reprimand he received after that stuck as he has stopped doing it. When Hudson is angry, your best bet is to walk away. Talking to him is useless. He is completely stuck in his immature frontal lobe where he does not want to know WHY; he just wants what he wants. If he is left alone, he quickly finds his way back to reality--just on his own terms.

In second grade, I took when John Grable said I "fought like a girl" to mean that I fought with purpose and got what I wanted out of the deal; looking back, I imagine he meant something different. Girls can be a bit unreasonable when fighting. So can three year olds.