Monday, August 27, 2007

Don't listen to your mother

Two weeks ago J (6) started his school. He was fairly less excited about it than I was and told me he already knows how to read and count. Well yes, I've told you about it here already.

Last week he tossed away his new and very good looking hat away.
The next day he wanted to have short hair, not girls' hair.
Day after that I saw a small bruise on his arm. He had been bullied and he had shown his fists to them, which led them to call him something as ridiculous as a "swan muscle".
We talked about it and I told him to tell us and the teacher if something happens again. I also told him not to show them any fists or that he is angry or hurt by their words, because that's exactly what they want to see. "Even better if you treat them as air", I said. "If they say something to you, act like they weren't existing at all."

Today one of the boys had locked his arms whilst the other punched him hard on the stomach.
"Why didn't you do anything?", I asked.
"I treated them as air, Mom", answered he.

7 comments:

Annie said...

Aw. Poor fox cub. And little bastards, two against one isn't fair...

Yes, as a teacher I am supposed to say 'tell the teacher', or another grownup. But I wish I could tell them 'if they hit you, hit them back.'

Anonymous said...

This is always a difficult situation. I tell my girls not to react, that that's what the bullies want you to do, but it's not so easy when someone's holding your arms!

I agree with Annie about wanting to say "hit them back". Also as a parent, I've found there are subtle, quiet ways of letting kids who bully know that you know exactly what they're up to (which is very satisfying!).

I'm sure it won't put him off school, though. He's obviously a very bright child and these others sound like losers to me.

Taiga the Fox said...

Thank you, Annie and Marsha :)
They shaked hands today, after a small converstation with the teachers. Hopefully everything turns to be better.

Occasional Poster of Comments said...

Hmm, that's rough. Poor cub.

Still, what you just said sounds promising. And I guess it's all still pretty new; probably takes a few weeks for everyone to settle down. Hope it's all OK soon.

As for being a parent, I don't envy you :) You can't win, can you?

Taiga the Fox said...

Yep, hopefully it's going to be OK. Hmm...I might be a better parent if I'd learn how to spell a conversation, for starters.

Dave said...

Oh well, if you want to improve your English usage, it's 'shook hands', not 'shaked hands'.

My Finnish, is slightly worse than this though, so I'll shut up.

This is, by the way, in lieu of commenting on your post above - to say your blog isn't boring, as blogger won't let me comment there (how exciting is that?)

Bowleserised said...

Poor cub!