The Mama Bear Instinct

Every mother has experienced that overwhelming "mama bear" instinct. The I-can't-help-myself reflex to protect her cubs. That reflex is alive and well in this mama bear, let me tell you.

Mary and her sweet pal Molly spend their recess time building caterpillar houses out of sticks and leaves and acorns. They create elaborate homes for those furry black and gold caterpillars we see from time to time, with bath tubs and a swimming pool-- even swings and reinforced rooftops. A wonderful, creative way to spend recess, in my opinion.

But not in the opinion of the evil girl. Maybe I should simply call her misguided. She is, after all, only 8. She trounced out of school, flanked by two boys, and went straight to the tree where the latest caterpillar house had been lovingly and carefully built. She shouted to anyone who cared to listen, "Stupid first graders-- they think fairies are real and they build these dumb houses for them. Dumb girls! How stupid, stupid, stupid!" and then she proceeded to take her foot (oh, yes, you knew this was coming!) and crush and stomp that little caterpillar home until nothing was left of it.

From ten feet away, this mama bear was boiling inside. It took every bit of restraint not to grab her by the collar and march her to the nearest teacher to demand a year of detention and gruel for hot lunch.

Instead, I waited until she looked up from her destruction zone and when she caught my eye, I said firmly, "That was not a nice thing to do." She smirked and walked away, the two boys trailing after.

I was furious that this little girl so wickedly and swiftly destroyed hours of creativity and delight. Until, that is, Mary and Molly came running out of school to continue their work on the caterpillar home. They saw that nothing remained, and Mary said, "Oh, the wind must have knocked it over." And Molly replied, "Well, now we get to build a whole new one and it will be even better!"

So, this mama bear didn't need to rise up and growl after all. These girls still have their sweet souls and their creativity. The misguided second-grader couldn't destroy that. If only we all could handle setbacks with such grace.