Tonight my boyfriend and I were out driving and three teenage punk kids jumped in front of my car (! ). I guess they were just being stupid, but I had to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting them and then they just stood there, and walked very... VERY slowly out of the way, while snarling at us. I don't know what their deal was, but my boyfriend wanted me to stop the car so he could confront them.

My boyfriend has a pretty quick temper, and he wouldn't hesitate to beat someone's booty if they said something smart to him. I refused to stop, even after one of the kids flicked us off (for no reason.. ). My boyfriend was pretty upset that I wouldn't let him defend us, and said I was being a "doormat". I just hate physical violence, even if someone does deserve it. He, on the other hand, hates letting people get away with being jackasses without making them sorry for it.

What do you think? Should I just have let my boyfriend get his testosterone out and defend us, or am I right to have kept driving?

Oh yeah that would've been great. That would've ended with your boyfriend being taken away in handcuffs. You absolutely did the right thing it sounds like you are saving your boyfriend from himself. But I have to ask what does he feel he needs to prove? This type of behavior is really immature.

Oy. If I knew the answer to that question, my life would be a lot easier! Hah! But seriously, I think he's just very... err... "alpha male"-ish? He has absolutely NONE of the flight instinct and TOO MUCH of the fight.

I hate it. I feel like I am constantly saving us from these situations. I just wanted to see if I should just let "boys be boys", or if I was right.

No you are totally right. What's easier calming him down or bailing him out of jail every weekend? Hopefully he will chill out as he gets older (please tell me he's not like 35) or learn how to control his temper towards idiots.

He's 25. Not too much better, eh?

Yeah but that's still in that young,dumb, macho guy phase. As he gets older he will hopefully calm down until that point you will probably have to play babysitter on him passing out the beatdowns :)

Three against one... odds are his temper would land him into the ER or worse.

Personally, I'd like to run over that type of punk, they are worthless and are ruining their own lives... they likely will end up holding low paying jobs and living in slums, but this is the real world and running them over would only land me in trouble. Stooping to their level never helps your cause.

Now if it was an attempted carjacking or anything to that effect I'd rather run them over and let the courts deal with it. Self defense is a right.

Your boyfriend needs to learn to choose his battles carefully before he ends up hurt or in jail.