1-2-3 Punch!

“Jack is a Toughie!” That’s what my husband often says. When Frank gets hurt, he almost always cries. When Jack gets hurt, he gets up and brushes himself off… that, or he comes up fighting!

Lately I’m noticing more of this trend. Three and Five my boys are. And as will so often happen, the older child torments, goads, and provokes the younger. What I have been noticing recently is that Jack saves it up and then lets Frank have it! Just this week, “Out-of-the-Blue”, Jack has gut punched Frank, thrown a hairbrush at (and hit) Frank from behind, and punched Frank (in the head) with a closed fist. All of these incidents have been within hours of somesort of torment from his older brother… long enough that Frank has forgotten, but neither I nor Jack have.

I don’t feel inclined to reprimand too strongly for the paybacks. Actually. Honestly. I think it’s a little funny and feel a victory cheer for the little guy standing up for himself. This isn’t to say I don’t punish the offenses… I punish both sides (at the time of incident). But, I also refuse to coddle the “victim”, reminding him that he, well, basically he “had it comin’ to him.”

But this is really all “background”. It is important for you to know that these things are currently happening, but, since most of you grew up in families of your own, with other siblings, I suspect you already know about these types of things.

I’m writing you because, today when I realized Jack just wanted to hit… what’s that? “How did I know?” you ask. Well… could it be because after I stopped Jack from hitting his brother, he started hitting the stove… and laughing! Yeah. That’s it. He just wanted to HIT.

Anyway, I set him to hitting furniture… specifically soft furniture. I suggested the bed, couch, or recliner. Jack climbed up in his Daddy’s recliner, so he was on his knees facing the back, and started whaling on the chair. Both fists, one after another. He enjoyed the hitting, but, the delightful side-effect was that he created a “ride” for himself as the chair rocked back-and-forth.

I was telling my Grandad this story tonight, and I didn’t quite get to the recliner bit when Grandad chimed in that my Grandma had bought my Uncle a punching bag when he was just a little older and wanted to hit. He had a big, plastic clown punching bag. Actually, I think I’ve found the BOZO Bag.

Grandad suggested that I get Jack a punching bag of his own… that he would not only have the fun of hitting, but the exercise of dodging and dancing around (boxing fashion) with it. I did a quick search and found two Superman models (36” and 48”) as well as Boxing Style (complete with gloves) that adjusts in height.

My question is, if I were to buy Jack a punching bag, what should I go for? Cheapest (about $10 shipped, or fancier for around $30?) What about size? Jack is 37” and Frank is 47” (or they were a few months ago).