Introducing Brothers

10:34 AM Edit This
Today at the Children's Museum Robin and Dallas were playing with these two other boys who were about 6 and 4 who were being a little rough. Warren really wanted to be in the tent with them and older boy wouldn't let him in. Robin and Dallas got out and said "This is Warren and he's our brother. If you want to play with us, you have to play nice with him." They started playing again and went back into the tent and the other boys both start pushing pillows at Warren to block his entry. I hear Robin from inside the tent "Maybe you didn't understand me." He crawls out and the boys follow. "This is Warren, he's my brother. I'm Robin and that's Dallas, he's my brother too." pointing to Dallas who chimes in "I'm Dallas" then points to me "and that's our Mother."
Robin starts again. "We play together so if you want to play with us, you need to be nice to Warren too."
Warren was standing there looking at them smiling and nodding. These boys also have a younger brother, a bit younger than Warren and he's in the corner having a snack with his parents who are just as curious as I am, watching this interaction. The other boys introduced themselves on their parents prompting and they all started to play again.

There was a time the boys got too rowdy close to Warren and he ran scared behind Robin and Dallas stood in front of them and said "I'm Dallas and this is Robin and Warren. Don't forget to be nice cause he (Warren) doesn't like that." Then everyone went back to playing.

Eventually Warren went to draw and Robin and Dallas got hungry so everyone went their separate ways, but we were in there together for nearly an hour.

I found it interesting how they handled the situation without any intervention with a formal introduction. Robin and Dallas were playing with the boys for quite a while before Warren wanted to join and no names were needed before that point. It's as if Robin was saying my brother is little but he's a person with a name. That's certainly what his body language and tone said. Except for Dallas pointing me out as part of their family, then never needed to look to me for guidance.

I feel really proud of how they handled it. It could have gone so many different ways. This was a herd of boys romping roughly together. Although all good kids it could have turned physical just by the nature of how they were playing or most likely I would have though Warren would have been left out. I was prepared to step in and redirect him to another activity where he was less likely to be hurt but I never needed to. I guess I'm just in awe of my children's maturity today, combined with the love and respect they showed for each other.