Sorry for lengthy post but had to paint a picture.
My son is in 4th grade and gets mistaken for 2nd/3rd all the time due to his small physical attributes. There's this 6th grader in the neighborhood been having probs with all year. They use to be freinds until we got calls of fights and rock throwing. I broke up a fight in my front yard where the boy was chased down by another boy he hit with a rock. I said enough and ended the relationship. After that the boy went south with my son and started with name calling. Then the bus driver broke up a fight at the bus stop where my son got pounded pretty good. Next incident the boy (and a freind) chased my son down and knocked him off his bike. I never confronted the parents. Good time for my son to learn to stand up for himself no matter the odds. Well almost. Yesterday there was another fight and I came on it. When the other boy saw me he (and 5 freinds 6th/7th) fled the scene. My son (and 1 freind 4th also) said the boy threatened him verbally with a knife but never actually saw it. I decided to confront the parents. I told the dad that I was not there to blame, point fingers or accuse anyone of anything but wanted to start some conversation on the issues. Boys will be boys but the mention of a weapon needed investigation. Before I could say another word he began expaining how he had talked to the kids (his boy's freinds) and that my son is a bully, rock thrower, name caller and probably had it coming to him. Blew me away. I was in this guy's house and did not want to disrespect that so I let him talk. When he was done I told him that my son had been coming home and talking with me about each incident. How many kids in the "wrong" go bragging to their parents and did has his son been mentioning mine? He didn't answer which tells me no. I told him that it was my experience that a bully picks on smaller/isolated kids not the other way around as he describes and I thanked him politely and started to leave. I told him that bullys usually are not afraid to leave the house like mine is. When I got to outside the house I turned and said there was one more thing. I forgot to mention that several weks ago I equipped my son with a portable recording device. I took the recorder out of my pocket and played him a verbal confrontation several weeks ago with his boy threatening to beat up my son in a very offensive manner. I also told him that I have several (which I do) and the mornings incident was also recorded (unfortunately only a portion got recorded/no knife mention) and since he decided to pursue the conversation in the manner he did, I would be filing an incident report with law enforcement. Oh yeah, BTW, I heard you passed the bar exam (lawyer). Guess we'll get a chance to see what your made of... happy holidays.
What would you do next if anything? My son REALLY doesn't want to leave the house now in fear of confrontation.
Thanks for listening and happy hoidays as well.
My son is in 4th grade and gets mistaken for 2nd/3rd all the time due to his small physical attributes. There's this 6th grader in the neighborhood been having probs with all year. They use to be freinds until we got calls of fights and rock throwing. I broke up a fight in my front yard where the boy was chased down by another boy he hit with a rock. I said enough and ended the relationship. After that the boy went south with my son and started with name calling. Then the bus driver broke up a fight at the bus stop where my son got pounded pretty good. Next incident the boy (and a freind) chased my son down and knocked him off his bike. I never confronted the parents. Good time for my son to learn to stand up for himself no matter the odds. Well almost. Yesterday there was another fight and I came on it. When the other boy saw me he (and 5 freinds 6th/7th) fled the scene. My son (and 1 freind 4th also) said the boy threatened him verbally with a knife but never actually saw it. I decided to confront the parents. I told the dad that I was not there to blame, point fingers or accuse anyone of anything but wanted to start some conversation on the issues. Boys will be boys but the mention of a weapon needed investigation. Before I could say another word he began expaining how he had talked to the kids (his boy's freinds) and that my son is a bully, rock thrower, name caller and probably had it coming to him. Blew me away. I was in this guy's house and did not want to disrespect that so I let him talk. When he was done I told him that my son had been coming home and talking with me about each incident. How many kids in the "wrong" go bragging to their parents and did has his son been mentioning mine? He didn't answer which tells me no. I told him that it was my experience that a bully picks on smaller/isolated kids not the other way around as he describes and I thanked him politely and started to leave. I told him that bullys usually are not afraid to leave the house like mine is. When I got to outside the house I turned and said there was one more thing. I forgot to mention that several weks ago I equipped my son with a portable recording device. I took the recorder out of my pocket and played him a verbal confrontation several weeks ago with his boy threatening to beat up my son in a very offensive manner. I also told him that I have several (which I do) and the mornings incident was also recorded (unfortunately only a portion got recorded/no knife mention) and since he decided to pursue the conversation in the manner he did, I would be filing an incident report with law enforcement. Oh yeah, BTW, I heard you passed the bar exam (lawyer). Guess we'll get a chance to see what your made of... happy holidays.
What would you do next if anything? My son REALLY doesn't want to leave the house now in fear of confrontation.
Thanks for listening and happy hoidays as well.
