A mother should never have to do certain things. Tonight I had to clean my son's face after another boy beat him. I am sure the other boy's mother had to do the same.

I got a call from my husband telling me that our oldest had been in a fight in self defense. He told me he had a busted lip and a black eye. And that we needed to talk before deciding what to do about it. Apparently some boys had been mouthing off to my son and words quickly became action. I guess they fought until they got it out of their system and then got up and shook hands. I don't understand it.
I have worried all night about what would happen. Some boys videoed the fight on their phones so I worried that it would make its way to the internet. Should I go talk to the other boy's parents? Should I go to the police? Should we punish our son?

I was angry at the choices he made but he asked me,  "Didn't I want him to defend himself?" He asked me if I just wanted him to stand there and get beaten.  He asked me if I knew it would be worse if he hadn't fought back?

So I cleaned his face. I put ointment on his cuts. I looked at the knots and the bruises. I gave him ice.  I cried. And I did nothing.