Two weeks ago, Blaine started being teary when I would drop him off at school. He never said anything was wrong, and he would suck it up pretty quickly, but he was different. He would ask a million questions as I dropped him off, hesitant to get out of the car, and he would make sure I was coming to get him right after work. I thought maybe he was just tired or worn out.
Then Monday, after we dropped off Kylee and were headed to his drop off, he LOST it. I mean, shoulder-shaking sobbing. He said it was because Mrs. Martinez had said it was far enough into the school year that now she was going to be stricter. I told him he would be fine, because he knew how to act and it didn't matter how strict she was if he was behaving. It didn't help. He then cried that he was scared. I told him I didn't believe he was scared of Mrs. Martinez, and he spilled the beans that there was a boy in his class, Julian, who was calling him names and wouldn't leave him alone.
I don't want to coddle my kids. I don't want to be that mom that thinks her kid is perfect and no other kid should ever look at them funny. But I also don't want to be that callous mom who doesn't care.
I asked him if he had told Mrs. Martinez, and he said no because he did not want to be a tattle-tale. Trying to call his bluff, I said I would park and walk him to the playground and talk to the monitor, THINKING he would NOT have that. He said, "Okay. Let's go." I walked him to the monitor, told her he was worried about this kid, and he wasn't comfortable. She assured me she would take care of it and told Blaine to show her which kid it was. As I drove away, I saw Blaine walking off with Briana,
her arm around his shoulder.
I sent his teacher an email, expressing my dilemma between coddling and ignoring, and she called me, telling me that the assistant principal and she had talked to Julian, and I was not overreacting. He came home from school and said everybody had talked to Julian, and he felt better. Joey talked to him, quizzing him if Julian had touched him, or if it was just name calling. Blaine assured him it was just name-calling. Tuesday morning, he got out of the car the old Blaine.
Wednesday moring, we were back to teary and a million questions. Thursday morning, same thing. I told him that if that boy bothered him, he needed to tell somebody, that everybody knew the situation, and that he was NOT being a tattletale. His Daddy questioned him Thursday night if the kid was hitting him. Blaine assured us he was just calling him names and would not leave him alone.
Friday, Julian hit him. Blaine was coming down the slide at lunchtime, and Julian had hid behind the slide and jumped up and slapped his face as he came down. It busted his lip. Blaine said he got in 'big trouble' and they called his parents. Joey is going to the school Monday morning. Last night when I went upstairs, I found this
in my bedroom. At first, I was appalled! I text D'Anne, who has two boys, and she said it's a Dad thing because her husband did the same thing. I also guess I don't want him to get killed, because this Julian kid is huge, after all. Bully beware!!
Oh, how I hope this situation is QUICKLY worked out! Stay tuned.
Also, just to prove he is still my happy seven-year-old, this is him last night.
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