Filed under: Uncategorized
When I was in school I hated the bus. Hated it. In elementary school, it was fine but when I hit middle school it was the worst experience ever. My ridiculously skinny body (really wish I could have some of that skinniness back, though) and awesome metal braces didn’t make me the coolest thing on the bus, but I still don’t think I deserved the mean 8th grade boys tormenting me about my flat chest while I sat next to my very well-endowed best friend. Needless to say, when I reached high school I made it my mission to find a ride home everyday so I wouldn’t have to ride the big cheese.
I tell you this ever so embarrassing story because my 5-year-old had a horrible experience on the bus yesterday…some things just don’t change. He sat down next to a fourth grader and this boy, who didn’t want “baby” company, proceeded to call my son names and kick him. When he wouldn’t budge (good for him! He didn’t cave!) this boy then gave Nate a series of body checks until Nate was pushed out of the seat and forced to find a new one. Now, I’m not naive in thinking that my kids will never experience bullies. In fact, I’m kind of nervous my younger son might actually give some kids a run for their money. I’m not expecting that my kids should be sheltered from hardships, and I hope that they learn if they haven’t already, to stand up for themselves and not cave in to pushy kids. But this incident really bothered me because Nate is five and this other boy is ten. In my mind, a 10-year-old should know not to bully around a kid in kindergarten. If this was a 1st grader I wouldn’t think twice about it. I’d tell Nate to stand up to him, tell him to stop treating him that way and then forget about it. But a ten-year-old? Shouldn’t they know better? I sure hope I’m right in assuming that at ten, kids know right from wrong. If not, we’re doing a horrible job as parents, teachers, and role models, and we need to step it up a bit.
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
1 Comment so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
The 10 year old is clearly the product of crappy parenting.
And which 8th grade boys? I know some people from that class…I wouldn’t want to find out they had been a less-than-upstanding junior high citizen.