March 26, 2005 - Saturday
Rip's dad invited Harry to join he and Rip for an adventure today. The idea for them was to get out of their house so Rip's mother could work on a project for the day. The plan was to visit "the easter bunny," then head to a couple of different museums and inviting Harry seemed like an excellent idea. It didn't really work out that way. They came by to get Harry about 11:30 with the expectation that they'd be gone until 4 or 5:00. It was about 1:30 when they got back.

Apparently after seeing the Easter bunny and venturing into the first museum, Harry said he wanted to come home. Of course, I wasn't on the trip so I don't really know what happened, but as he was taking his shoes off in the hall, Rip's dad still standing there, Harry piped up and said he had wanted to come home because Rip was whining too much. I talked to Rip's dad for a few moments outside and, if I understand right, Rip had his most serious meltdown since his birthday party, this time because a balloon he had gotten popped. Harry added later that Rip had not been very friendly, not sharing some Bionicles that he had in the car, and had been whining a lot more than just the meltdown. In a comment that sounded like a direct echo of his teachers at school, Harry said something like 'when you don't like what someone else is doing, walk away.'

Indeed, I have to again commend Harry for dealing so well with Rip. Everything I heard from Rip's dad and from Harry seems to say that Harry did very much the right thing if he was made to feel uncomfortable. Of course, I can't help but wonder about this as yet another incident to raise concerns about how Rip treats Harry. While I still think that Rip's gregariousness and generally good-natured demeanor is good for Harry, the pushing, the personal digs from the birthday party (however unconscious they were on Rip's part), the stuff like the slipper incident, and the bossiness I've seen at school leave me concerned about how good a friend Rip really is for Harry. They're still good friends, but to have a best friend be so callous can certainly become rather hurtful. I suppose that's jut a parent worrying and what I should really see is that Harry over the last few days has been handling it very well and standing up for himself in a very mature way. I guess, too, that if he figures out how to get through this sort of thing by himself, confidence in tack, it will only make him more ready for the school years to come.


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