Dents Add Character, Right?

Well, as I was coming home from picking up R yesterday after work, I got hit in the passenger side door by 2 kids on a bike. I was making a right turn, and all of the sudden they slammed into my car.

Good news is that no one was (seriously) hurt, just a few scratches on the boys on the bike. And R hardly even noticed it happened.

As I approached the boys as I pulled into a nearby parking lot after the accident, the driver was furious and literally threw his bike into the air. He and the other boy were starting to walk away, but I called out to them, "Are you ok?"

With that, the mood changed. I think they were both expecting me to scream at them. I was anxious about checking out the side of my car, so once they both said they weren't too hurt, I said, "I'm going to look at the damage on the side of the car now, and I'm just glad my baby wasn't hurt."

I asked them both what grade they were in, one in 10th, the other in 8th. I just said, "I teach 8th graders," which made the younger one sort of smile.

I guess handling it in a calm and kind way was what they both needed. I work with ED (emotionally disabled) students, and these 2 boys reminded me of a couple of kids I might see in my class.

I'm thankful that no one was seriously hurt and that I had the presence of mind to handle my interaction with the boys the way I did. Besides, like someone said to me, "You can't sue kids anyway."

I looked at the car, and there's some damage. However, Red is 10 years old right now, and although I love her very much, she's starting to show her age. One more dent isn't going to make that much of a difference!