The kid supposedly just walked up and punched my kid in the cheek in class, and chased them with scissors just a few days ago (corroborated by the teacher).

I know shit happens, and they’re a resilient kid, so it’s not too big a deal. But I also want to raise hell to get this kid away from them. What’s the next incident going to be?

I understand the structural and societal issues here - the kid probably doesn’t have a great home life, and the school doesn’t really have anything they can do that will help him.

Idk, just feeling conflicted and looking for thoughts.

  • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netMEnglish
    8·
    3 months ago

    My kids are not yet school age, and it will be a little different for them because I work (not as a teacher) in the school system they will be going to, but:

    Now, all of that being said I have absolutely taught them that the first option no matter what is to try to walk away and find a teacher if you haven’t been physically attacked yet.

    This has always been in my mind as the first step.

    1. Tell an adult what happened. See how they handle the situation.
    2. If the kid does it again, say you want to go to the office and talk to the principal / vice principal.
    3. If the kid still continues, then you have used up the options the school has presented you, and the only thing left to do is defend yourself in kind. Make it clear that this has been an issue you’ve tried to get solved.

    My experience growing up taught me that if I did nothing, I would just be abused by kids who knew I would let them. It wasn’t until high school that I started getting aggressive in return. It helped that I had the support of a good friend at the time, willing to also get aggressive on my behalf.

    Once I was no longer a “soft target”, I got picked on less. Blowfish are not aggressive, but they are prickly for a reason. Be prickly like the blowfish, make yourself an undesirable target.

    The other side of this coin though is that, as I have gotten older, I’ve become far less confrontational, and will try and deescalate an escalating situation.