Wow, first of all, kudos for a powerful and very effective hook with so few words!

I really felt the tension and the exact feelings of the kids. Them defending their mother, their home. Indeed the kids can differentiate and their stance can be well understood.

The ending was also as powerful as the begining, other than your flawless use of the prompt, the words didn't lose any strength to them, on the contrary they became stronger!

Thank you for that delightful read @agmoore. Despite the sad situation that family is living and the story being touching, it was a quite enjoyable and well written story.

!LUV