Nate is always telling me about bullies at school. The last day before Christmas break, Nate was outside for afternoon recess (they get 3 actually which I think is odd but whatever) and I got a call from him in tears saying his face hurt and could I please come get him. When I got to school he could barely stop crying. His face was totally scraped up and he had several chipped teeth. Apparently a girl at recess (who is in love with him I guess) grabbed him, swung him around, and let go, sending him sprawling on the pavement.
You can't see it that good in the picture but the left side of his face is all scratched up. I put up with SO much bullying last year and was NOT going to put up with this kind of behavior. I talked to the principal about it and he had Nate come to his office the next day. The girl who had hurt him was there and apologized to him. Every day Nate tells me things that people are making fun of him for. He is made fun of because of food he eats, or if he wears a green shirt with a blue sweater, or the kids in his math class (he goes up to 4th grade for math) call him Leprechaun because they think he's short. I get SO SICK of hearing Nate tell me he can't eat this or can't wear that because people make fun of him. Well, this morning, Nate told me that yesterday a girl at school put hand sanitizer on carrots and got him to eat one. Nate didn't know there was sanitizer on the carrots. I am REALLY mad about this!!! WHY do kids get away with acting this way? If you were me, would you continue to have your child go to this school or would you see if he could get in the advanced learning program in the public schools? I need advice!
8 comments:
If it were me, I would try public school....at least they are more likely to do something about the bulling....just my opinion.
Does he stick up for himself? Have you spoken to his teacher? Perhaps they can talk to him about it. I would be IRRATE about the hand sanitizer. Kids have died from alchohol poisoning from that sort of thing. Seriously. Maybe all the parents need to be called in, if I found out my kids were doing that... well... My kids wouldnt be doing it any longer.
I think you should get him into a Tae-Kwon-Do class or something. He deserves to be at that school, but he needs to be able to stand up for himself. Also it would give him the confidence that he needs and hopefully kids would feel that confidence and stop even trying to bully him. But I would make sure he knew how to fight and if he ever got in trouble for defending himself you could defend him to the principal. That's what I would do! But I'm sorry you have to deal with it, SOUNDS TOUGH!! Seriously. Nothing harder as a parent.
Oh, my Aprilyn! I hate it when people are mean to each other. I guess with public school it all depends on the school. I don't know that much about charter schools, but my daughter worked at one as a teacher and didn't feel much support from the administration. The kids were out of control.
I think that Nate just needs to learn tools that will help him to respond to the bullies. That might be Marshall Arts or just some ideas for better responses to teasing. Role playing could help, maybe. Put a lot of prayer into it and I'm sure you will find an answer.
I'll say a prayer for you and Nate too!!
Oh, I'm so sorry. How frustrating!! I have NEVER heard of a bully problem at our public elementary school from either one of my kids. I can't believe how cruel those kids have been and that the principal didn't do something more than just have the girl apologize. That seems very unprofessional of him not to get the parent of the girl involved. I would have been SO angry- as I'm sure you were as his mother. I think that you should try to talk to the principal and write a letter explaining the problems in detail and see if there is any more he can do to help this problem. For example, more teachers chaperoning at recess or teachers not standing for any bullying and having immediate discipline procedures for it. If the problems continue, I might think of transferring him to public school. I wonder if the charter schools focus on intelligence more rather than citizenship. Your Nate sounds like a very smart kid, but sometimes friendships and self-esteem have to be the bigger priority. I would see how the rest of the school year plays out, but if it doesn't get better and the principals and teachers refuse to help, then I'd seriously consider transferring schools. I also think Tris had some great advice. Karate is a very good self-esteem builder for little boys. Best of luck and I hope that things start to improve ASAP!
There are some excellent suggestions here. I would also add that you may want to look real closely to make sure he is not being "rewarded" for getting bullied. Does he get more attention from mom and dad for being bullied than he does for positive things. Just another thing to look at. BEST OF LUCK!!
Thanks for the comments everyone. I did email the principal about the sanitizer on carrots thing because that is just scary! The rest, he just needs to learn to let it roll. Bull Rhino (Katherine's Dad) thanks for your point. I hadn't thought about that.
AHH! I can't even think clearly enough to leave any advice. I just want to say STOP IT to those kids. WHY are kids so mean?!?!?!! Nathan looks so cool, confident, handsome...I can't imagine anyone picking on him?! And if anything I think he looks tall? I'm SO sorry that he has to go through this. Stragely, I think a lot of kids who get picked on when they're younger end up being so successful later. I'm sorry!!
Post a Comment