Too purty to live in town.....

Thursday 5/3/07

Dammit, I'm pissed again. I don't like being po'd.

I went to pick up Joe at afterschool today. He'd found a quarter, and was going to keep it. Then one of the other kids told him it belonged to him. I instructed Joe to give it to the boy. The boy took it, and then said it really wasn't his. The afterschool director told him to give it to Joe, because Joe found it. While Joe was walking towards the boy, another boy took it and threw it across the room!

I asked the director if I could speak to the boy who threw the quarter. She said I could. I asked him what his name was. He said his name was Neil. The other kids said, no, that wasn't his name. His name was Sebastian. I asked him who his teacher was. He named a teacher. The other kids said, no, that wasn't his teacher. The director told me who his teacher was.

I asked him why he was being a bully. He said he wasn't being a bully, he just wanted to throw it. I asked him if he was this rude and disrespectful to all adults, and he said he was. I told him that his parents would be contacted about his bullying and that I would not accept him bullying my child. He shrugged his shoulders. I told him that if he didn't learn to be respectful and polite to adults now, he'd have to learn it in jail. He said, "yes, that's where I'm going, jail."

I am so angry at this boy's behavior. I don't want to pass judgement on his parents because I haven't met them. It would be easy to make assumptions about them, but I'm chosing to take the high road.

Joe has enough working against him with his ADHD, ODD, OCD and autism. He gets in trouble enough on his own. He doesn't need some bully antagonizing him. I plan on speaking with the principal in the morning about this. I am so not pleased right now.

I talked to Joe about how angry I was that this boy would be so blatantly rude to him, and that it was especially wrong for him to be so disrespectful to a parent. I told Joe that if he can learn anything from this situation, it would be how NOT to speak to an adult. I also told him that I'm first in line to correct him when he's wrong, but I'll also be first in line to defend him when he's right.

Due to his medical conditions, Joe does a lot of things that creates problems for him. He makes wrong choices often, because of the way he's wired, and requires more supervision than most, and a lot more patience. This time, he was doing the right thing and was bullied for it. I will NOT accept that.

I thought this would be a good educational tool to use, so I asked him what he thought would happen if he ever spoke to an adult that way. He said that would be really bad, and that he wouldn't be able to find enough ice packs for his butt. You got that right, dude!!!

So, tomorrow, I'll find out what kind of anti-bully policy the school has. The most I can do is put the school on notice that this boy is a problem. I'm thinking that if he didn't think twice about being so blatantly rude and disrespectful by lying to me, that this isn't a new behavior.

As angry as I am at that boy, my mother's heart is concerned for his parents. Do they know? Do they care? Are the frustrated, trying everything thing they can, and feel like they are a failure because it's not working? What is his home life like? Does he have a healthy, nurturing environment, or is it filled with malice, dissention and bitterness? I have no answers, but God does. I'd like to ask all who believe in the power of prayer to please pray for this boy and his parents.

Thanks to all who helped me when I came unhugged yesterday. It's such a blessing to call you my friends.

Curls