Middle Boy called this afternoon...FREAKING OUT. 

I had been in my lunch meeting with my foster care agency and didn't hear my phone.  When I picked it up I saw six missed calls and a text.  I also had an email from C that Middle Boy was trying to get in contact with me.

I called him to see what was going on and he told me I had to come and get him RIGHT NOW.  I asked what was going on.  He didn't want to elaborate.

As I was driving to go pick him up the teen program he goes to called me.  It seems that he and a friend were listening to music and one of the girls in the program didn't want them listening, because she had a headache.  She decided to punch them both.  Middle Boy got up to walk away and she punched him in the face.  According to the director of the program he continued to walk away when she struck him with a folding chair.

Middle Boy DID NOT fight back.  I'm sure it took EVERYTHING in him not to.  He is a fighter by nature and through life experience.  He was still steaming mad when I got there.  I gave him a hug and told him I am proud of him.  I am.  This required a maturity I didn't know he had.

Last week this same girl screamed in his face "f*** y**" and he walked away.  I didnt' know about this until the director called today.  She has two strikes in the program.

He knows he has to go back tomorrow.  He knows it isn't going to be easy.  He knows he has to maintain self control or risk returning to the juvenile center.

It is a proud parenting moment for me.  The boy who moved in would have punched her in the face and thought nothing of it.

Praises for emotional growth and self control.