Bad Influence

I've been agonizing over a situation at daycare that doesn't seem to be getting any better. Mazin has been coming home with some unsavory behaviors (tongue-spitting and name-calling) that he's picked up from another kid. I'm not just placing blame--I've seen it myself, in social situations where he's around this child. I don't claim to have an angelic son, but Mazin isn't making this stuff up. He's emulating an older kid. He also complains about this friend pushing him and doing mean things. It makes me want to yank him right out of that place and put him in a little Montessori bubble.

But would that be any better? The world is full of people he shouldn't emulate... would I be doing him any favors by sheltering him from this reality? Ultimately, he will need to learn that not all behavior he observes in his peers is acceptable. At the same time, I just want to buy him a little more time. I want him to be surrounded by loving, supportive family and friends. I don't want him to face adversity so early on. And I don't want his personality to be warped and tainted. I'm probably overreacting. But am I, really? Lately he cries in the morning when I tell him it's a daycare day. He cries real tears and seems genuinely distressed. He mentions this child by name, when I ask him why he doesn't want to go. Is that because he has picked up on my concern about the whole thing? Has he just transferred to this kid his general anxiety about having to spend the day without me?

I'm going to discuss it with his daycare provider. I avoided the issue for a while, hoping it was a phase. But it's not phasing out. I don't want to be the overbearing mother, but I feel like I have to come to my child's defense. This is probably a nice little preview of an issue that's going to come up again and again over the years, isn't it?