Advice from Parents

[lazs2]

what i have noticed about martial arts is that a group of guys who would be bellybutton kickers if they never studied anything.... go out and "teach" a bunch of pasty faced nose pickers the "art" and tell em "now that you are a deadly tool grasshopper, you will not need to engage in fisticups"   they tell them this because young grasshopper is no more deadly than when he came in except...  he thinks he is.   which is not a minor thing in and of itself.
lazs

[Ripsnort]

Here's my take:
The child who did the punching should have been brought aside and explained that violence is NOT the answer, and he should have been disciplined (Time out, whips, whatever...)

Then, after the party, I would explain to your son that everyone in the world is not a friendly as he, and some people just have "bad days", explain to him that what the other kids did was not meant to hurt him, and tell him that he will ALWAYS have a best friend to listen, play with...that being YOU.

[Corwin]

I have really enjoyed reading this post as a new parent of twin boys and someone who has pondered these very issues.  Thanks for sharing folks.

In the discussions of martial arts the only one I was not familiar with was Lazs who mentioned "Fisticups".  What sort of cup does it involve?  I played quite a bit of football during my school years and as a lineman often employed a "Fist to Cup" technique.  I got to be pretty good at it and was only ejected one time.  That having been said,  I never realized someone had  elevated it to the level of an art.

[gofaster]

It sucks to be the smallest...until they realize you can bust out a 6-minute mile in track.  

His day will come, just make sure he doesn't do unto others as they have done unto him.