My DS is 12 however he's well built bigger then some grown men. But has long hair so sometimes from behind looks like a girl. Back in June as he was waiting for a bus from school with a small group of female friends. One of his friends began to get hassled by a drunk man looked as though he was also on some sort of drugs. Who was getting very provocative with her. Scaring her. She is 13 so you can imagine the fear. I don't think at this point he had realised my son was a male. This girl and a few others had asked the man to leave them alone. He tried at one point to snatch a phone and my DS just had enough he does boxing as a hobby and warned this man to leave the girls alone the man mocked him calling him a pansy due to his hair. Then tried to grab an 11 year old girls boobs making her cry. Sneering at them. My son took a swing and knocked the man out cold. Some adults did appear shortly after and kept an eye on the man who was passed out and called Police and ambulance. The idiot was fine just a bruised ego and a bust lip. Police arrested him for theft (he'd attacked someone else further along the street and took their phone) possession if class A drugs and also indecent assault on a minor. We were told he was already on the sex offenders list and not meant to be near a school. The two police officers shook my son's hand for stopping him going further then made a point of making it clear to the guy when he came round that the 12 year old who he called a pansy was the one who laid him out cold.
The AIBU is because just this week I bumped into one of the other kids parents. (A girl who wasn't touched and had managed to back away from the man). Other parents have sent him chocolates and thanked him for protecting the girls. This mother however berated me for allowing my son to learn to fight, because in her view he could have made the situation worse if the man and retaliated and hurt him or the other kids and he could have had a weapon. She seemed really put out when I said I was proud of him as if she expected me to tell him off. She seemed to think the kids should have tried to stay calm and ignore the man until the bus arrived and they could be safe. She had no consideration for the few girls that had already been grabbed and groped or nearly had their phone stolen or the fact the man was already a sex offender. She expects them to "hold on" and put up with it till an adult arrives. AIBU to be proud of my boy. He stood up for girls who couldn't despite the risks.