Bullies

I haven't posted in a while, but a friend's post on Facebook today reminded me of this "event" in our life. I feel like I just want it out there because it makes my heart hurt.

A few weeks ago we were home and I was making dinner. I asked Brixton some question about his day. He started telling us about some second-graders (he's a first-grader) who came up and started PUNCHING and KICKING him on the playground.

I'm a full believer that there are always two sides to every story. And, while I think he's an amazing, kind kid, I know that all kids make poor choices at times.

So, we asked him questions to clarify what happened, thinking maybe he said or did something that made these boys want to hit him. His answer was consistently that he didn't know why they hit him. He had been "doing my exercises" on some playground equipment when the boys came up and starting hitting him and put him in a headlock (he didn't know what this was but demonstrated it on me when we asked him to show us what they did). He got away and did some sort of made up karate move to tell them to go away (never hitting them). Instead of going away they had a third kid come and hold him down. After a few punches and kicks, he got away and told the recess teacher who then made the boys sit out the rest of recess (she didn't see what happened).

I decided to send a note to his teacher to see if she knew if there was more to the story, something we weren't hearing. His story never changed, but I really wanted to believe that no one would just come up and try to beat him up.

His teacher called me the next day and thanked me for sending the note. She said she had no idea this had happened. Turns out the recess duty teacher was a student teacher. Let me say this, I know a lot of crazy silly stuff happens on recess and not all of it needs to be reported to the principal. I'm not upset with that teacher. She didn't see what happened so who was she supposed to believe?  Anyway, his teacher said they investigated and met with all the boys. Turns out the boys who jumped B ADMITTED that they were just looking for someone to pick on and he was by himself playing so they picked him. THAT breaks my heart.

I never really imagined B would have this happen. He's a super confident kid and has a ton of friends. I always thought bullies picked on kids that weren't like that. Boy, was I wrong. To be completely honest, he doesn't talk about it now and really doesn't seem bothered. For that I am grateful.

The principal handled the situation. His teacher told me what she could about that and I feel like they handled it as best they could. She also said she was really glad I sent a note. She said had I not done that they never would have known.

We talked to B about it and decided that the best thing to do was to pray for those boys, so we did.

I really feel like we did the right thing. I think some people would say it's just kids being kids, but I disagree. B said after he got away the boys tried to grab another kid and start hitting that kid.

I do have to say there's one part of this that makes me chuckle. He kept talking about "just doing my exercises." That's the part I love. I can just see him out there "working out" on the playground equipment and then doing some made up karate type move. He does that stuff at home and it's pretty adorable.