10 year old getting picked on at school

[Randolph Medlock]

As I mentioned in the other thread, my son has been acting up a lot at home. I think we may have gotten to a root cause. He told us tonight, after another blowup over essentially nothing, that he is being picked on. My son is very small for his age. 'Jamal' is picking on him at lunch. Taking his hat at recess, tipping his lunch tray, 'trying' to hit him, throwing balls at him. Etc.

This is really bothering my boy and from what he says about when it started the timeframe coincides exactly with when his behavior at home starting going south.

He says he has tried to ignore it, tell him to stop, and told the teachers.

I plan to email the teacher tonight and inform her how serious this is so she takes his complaints seriously.

Any other suggestions about how to deal with bullies? I'm going to the school to have lunch with my son tomorrow. Should I confront Jamal in any way even if it's just to say 'Hi, I'm Tommy's dad, he's told me about you.'

[Buru Buru]

That sucks. I'm not sure how you should handle this, but the fact that people suck so much is a reason I don't want to have kids.

[DudeMan]

don't interfere yourself and don't e-mail the teacher about it. i'd honestly recommend your son stand up to the kid even if it means he may lose a fight or get in trouble. hopefully it'll be a one-time incident and that will end teh bullying

[gadzookz]

One of Grandma's favorite stories was about her youngest son (my uncle) and a bully at school. The bully was doing similar things, and eventually started stepping on his toes every day.

About a week of this behavior is when my Grandma found out this was going on. His toes were all bruised, starting to crack and bleed around the toe nails. My Grandma told him that the next time he steps on your toes, punch him square in the nose as hard as you can.

The next day at school, sure enough, bully comes over to pick on my uncle and tries to step on his toes. My uncle punches him flush in the face and the other kid's nose bleeds like a faucet. My uncle gets sent to the principal's office, and Grandma gets called in to pick him up.

When she gets to the office, they tell her what happened (only the part about my uncle jacking the kid in the face) and that he was in trouble and had to go home for the rest of the week for fighting. Grandma told them, yes, that he punched that kid in the face because she had told him to.

But that was 40-45 years ago, and the principal back then had a paddle in his office. I don't think that would go over very well in today's world.

[Buru Buru]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7InI...eature=related

[Clam Chowdah]

I think it's pretty clear Jamal is slowly realizing that he's gay and has the hots for your kid.





No seriously, email the teacher and if that doesn't work email the principal. Don't confront the kid with a weak little implication for him to cut it out.

[GuineaPig]

I had a similar problem and my grandpa told me he would give me a dollar for every punch I threw at the kid would was the culprit. I was in ~4th grade. My grandpa is old school - I'm not condoning his methods but looking back now its kinda humorous...

[johnny storm]

Tipping the lunch tray should be part of the solution. Does your son ever spill his whole tray when this happens? Does he need you to help him practice where the food goes flying when this happens?

[The Drunken Actuary]

Originally Posted by DudeMan

don't interfere yourself and don't e-mail the teacher about it. i'd honestly recommend your son stand up to the kid even if it means he may lose a fight or get in trouble. hopefully it'll be a one-time incident and that will end teh bullying

That only works in movies. Jamal is presumable bigger and meaner. Other suggestions in this thread are too old school for today's world. Email/call the teacher. I wouldn't confront the kid on school property though. That could lead to trouble. Sounds like your son did the right thing {telling him to stop, telling the teacher, trying to ignore it). Alerting your kid's teacher may make her realize this is more serious than she realized, if she was even aware of it at all.

[DudeMan]

Originally Posted by The Drunken Actuary

That only works in movies. Jamal is presumable bigger and meaner. Other suggestions in this thread are too old school for today's world. Email/call the teacher. I wouldn't confront the kid on school property though. That could lead to trouble. Sounds like your son did the right thing {telling him to stop, telling the teacher, trying to ignore it). Alerting your kid's teacher may make her realize this is more serious than she realized, if she was even aware of it at all.

perhaps. anyways, OP if you are not comfortable with your kid making a stand for himself, then i recommend a phone call rather than e-mail.