Bullies

Yesterday I got to be silly, but once again life has creeped forward and shown me reality.

As I said in a previous post oldest (I'm going to break the three up into oldest, middle and youngest)has had a hard year. He is a bit above average in size, brains looks and strength, but really does not like to get hurt (physically or emotionally). He wears his heart and feelings on his sleeves and these shit heads see it, take advantage of it and bully him.

Its taken us a few years to get him to open up to us. He went from one of the most popular kids in his class (or so we thought)to a quiet withdrawn preteen. (if your a parent watch for the symptoms) There was some real problems a few years ago where one boy (same one doing it now) had oldest pay him protection money, and then other situations where kids would be his friend and then turn against him when more popular kid/bully started picking on him. We had a lot of talks, used a lot of the links below to get him talking about what was happening and how we could help. Then we made sure he knew we were doing something about it. Since then he has been open and honest. I know some people might say he is a wimp and a pussy .. Guess what .. You were a bully, still are a bully or are a parent of a bully (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree) so get off my page shit head.

Well this time oldest and a few friends stood up for a freind, they went to the principle to report that their friend S was a target of bullying. The principle promised that she would not mention their names, but somehow these kids figured out that oldest was one of the ones who told on them and have threatened to beat him up. I've called the principle to make sure she is aware how far this has gone.

I want him to make it into adulthood. He will be a good man, I know that. Hell, I'm really proud of him for doing what he just did, it took a lot of guts to report these kids. I want to make sure he is safe and protected, but a can't be with him every minute. You hear on the news about kids being killed over things like this.

I just want oldest to be able to live without being scared. That's why I have us enrolled at Academy of Martial Arts and Sciences where we are learning Taekwondo. It's good for him becuase its helping him become strong and more sure of himself. It's helping me get into shape, I'm a bit on the oval side. In a year I hope to have talked my wife into letting me take middle and youngest.

Anyway here are some links with information about bullying.

Canadian Parents magazine forum on bullying
Safe Schools Canada
Scouts Canada
Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System

If your kid won't talk to you leave this link some where they can find it.Kids Help Phone