Jackassery

Every Labor Day, Acworth (the city I live in) holds a Pioneers' Day festival. I have no idea what Pioneers have to do with Ferris Wheels or funnel cake or over-priced bottled water, but the fair is a great way to drop forty bucks in an effort to create some pleasant childhood memories for the little ones. We met with three other families and a bachelor friend, and departed en masse to the festival around 11 this morning.

We walked along a trail, through a neighborhood and then along a stream in the adjacent woods. The path was overgrown with grass and weeds taller than the children, and thistles creeped out past the wood-line like little barbed trip wires. A few Viet Kong comments were made ("Charlie in the trees!") but we made it through the woods, across the field, and to the fair.

The children spent an hour on the playground, ate some lunch, and then descended on the rides. Liam and I went on the ferris wheel, and I am pleased to report that my once crippling acrophobia seems all but overcome. Go me.

After exhausting our supply of tickets and making the significantly hotter trek back home under the midday sun, we arrived back at the house to enjoy the air-conditioning. The children played, the adults talked and snacked; life was good. As everyone was getting ready to depart, one of the little boys, we'll call him "D", went outside to the front porch with a bubble blower. He jostled the bubble solution before pulling the plastic ring out of the bottle, and asked "Why isn't this working?" when no bubbles could be blown.

One of the husband/fathers, sitting on the porch a few feet away, leaned his head back and said:

Jackass (with a completely straight face): "Because you suck."

Me: "Excuse me?"

Jackass: "Oh, I was talking to D."

Me: "Please don't say that to him."

Jackass: "He knows I'm kidding."

Me: "He's six. You don't speak to children that way, at least not in front of me. Got it?"

At this point his wife and the other couple were outside, and caught the tail end of our exhange. The Jackass and his wife were considering putting their daughter in my martial art class. I'd like to think they would be even more enthusiastic about training given my response to the dad's joke bullying, but I know that is probably not the case (EDIT: It is the case, and certainly impresses me). I can't begin to comprehend why anyone would feel good about speaking that way to a child.