My 6 year old son was playing with his friend who is 10 outside. He's a nice boy and they've always got on well.
I was in the kitchen and I heard this absolute wail come from outside that was my son. I ran out and he was clutching his eye and sobbing uncontrollably.
His friend was saying sorry to him and comforting him, and told he'd shot him in the eye with his Nerf gun.
DC couldnt open his eye so I didnt respond, and just ushered DS inside.
A cold compress later he could open it, but it was swollen.
We asked what happened when he'd calmed down, he said his friend shot him in the eye with a nerf gun. His dad asked how fat away he was stood and he said "where mum is now", at which point I had a cold compress against his eye so there was about half a foots width between our bodies.
A bit annoyed, I knocked on his door to as, what happened . He answered and I said just wanted to hear what happened (i.e was it deliberate) and he explained. He said "We swapped guns and I shot him in the eye."
Basically it pans out, it was deliberate but he didnt mean to hurt my son.
Then his mums comes to his side, I told her. She said "Oh dear. Did you say sorry?"
He said yes (he had).
That was it.
I left having to make a point of keeping my chin off the floor. His mum is a nice person from what I know of her but clearly we parent differently.
If that was my son especially if he was 10, who had shot a younger child, or any person in the eye, Id have been livid.
I was pissed off but now Im confused. Ive recently been doubting my parenting approaches with my son, Im having a bit of a wobble. And this has made me wonder if my reaction would have been too harsh.
So I put it to the jury, how would you have reacted if your child had done that?