This week my son had an incident at school. No, it wasn’t his fault. He was the victim of an attack from a person who claimed to be his friend.

Apparently, C and this other child have been “friends” and play with each other often. However, what I didn’t know about this “friend” is that he is rough. He plays rough and has been known to cause harm to my child.

One thing I will not tolerate is someone else’s child causing harm or injuries to mine.

ZERO TOLERANCE.

So, before I go off on my tangent I will give you the details of what transpired that day.

My husband goes to pick C up from school, and he quickly notices that something was going on. C had been bitten on the back by another child.

BIT ON THE BACK!

Apparently, the aggressor (another child) was upset at C because he didn’t want to play with him. C tries to do the right thing by continuing to walk away and this child bites him on the back. Tearing the skin. There are no words for the level of pisstivity I experienced. I was so angry. Here my child is trying to do the right thing by walking away from a child that he thinks is his friend, then this friend physically hurts him.

Long story short, there are a few lessons we all learned as a family that day.

1. I have to teach my children they need to speak up for themselves. They need to understand they have a VOICE and they need to know how to use it. C is very quiet and as a child, he doesn’t want to lose friends. I get it. But he also needs to know that it is ok to talk to his teachers and us (parents) about things that happen to him.
2. As a parent, I am responsible for equipping my children with the tools to defend themselves. After this incident, it reminded me that we do not live in the same world I grew up in. In this 80’s we didn’t have to worry about this as much as we do now. With that being said, we will be signing my son up to take boxing, kickboxing, or jujitsu so he can learn how to defend himself. Not so he will have the ability to defend himself from childhood bullies but also from adults that may try to harm him as well. I honestly feel by preparing him for this he will become more confident in speaking up and out about kids or adults who may try to harm him.
3. We need to continue to educate our kids on behavior that is unacceptable. There is nothing I hate more than a child who desperately wants to foster fun and meaningful childhood relationships, and because of this, they allow other children to bully them. The more we talk to our kids about aggressive behavior the more our kids will know how to handle it.

There is nothing more challenging as a parent than to find out your child has been harmed by another child. To be honest, it made me want to manhandle someone’s child.

Seriously.

We have to remember our children are watching us. They are observing our actions and what we will do and how we will react. One thing my children know, I will not back down. I will be there to defend and fight for them and I will set them straight when they are in the wrong.

This incident really opened my eyes to what I need to pay closer attention to when talking to my kids. It also made me realize that I need to make sure that I am actively listening to him and everything he tells me. Although I am sad he was hurt, I am thankful for the lesson it has taught me.

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