Let me share something that has been jumping off the top of the wrestling cage of my mind for the past three months. How do I go about teaching my son to be…tough?

Tough is not even the right word…

How do I teach my son to not be a pushover? How do I teach my son to not be the aggressor but don’t let anyone take out their aggression on him? Every day to until three months ago I did my very best to teach my son to be empathetic (the way the ego works at his age, he sees things his way and only his way). I try to teach him to share and to use his words when he is angry. I teach him all these things that I imagine all other sane grounded parents teach their kids, but I often wonder-will it help?

Will it help when some kid punches or pushes my kid? Working in the field of childcare I know that most squabbles between the ages of 3 to 5 are forgotten within 5 minutes or in the same amount of time it takes the kids to find something else to keep their attention. Ebb and flow, right?

I wonder will Presto cry is someone hits him, or will he smack the shit out of them? What should I want him to do? I don’t want him to be Mini Mike Tyson but as a human being (and supposed adult) I’d be ok with him NOT letting someone hit him. Is it a balanced thought to want your child to hit them back AND tell the teacher? Ok, I’m jumping off the question filled cliff here.

I think the foundation of my concern is, I always want my kid to be safe. I also know that is virtually Impossible. As our kids grow we must let go, they have to grow up, there is a very strained pull and push created. More for the parents then the child as I’m learning. I see parents online teaching their kids to box at four years old…can’t do that. I see parents teaching their kids to shoot guns for so called “safety purposes” …can’t do that. What can I do?

Maybe the question is what will he do?