The Bullying Stops Here!

My soon-to-be 12 year old son had a hard adjustment this 6th grade year. New school district, new school, and new friends. He spent K-5th with kids he know from his daycare days. Daycare stops when a child reaches a certain age, therefore with two working out-of-the-home parents we had no choice but to send him to the school district close to home.

My child experienced jokingly mispronunciation of his last name, scribbling in his agenda book, broken pencils, ripped folders, and physical abuse. He kept a lot of the goings-on to himself. My child normally talks non-stop, but lately I noticed he was becoming very reserved. I finally asked him what was the matter, and he shared his daily regime of bullying by a small group of students. We immediately contacted the school principal about bullying and the physical incident. The other child was considered a “regular” problem child and was suspended for 10 days. This made the problem child’s friends upset, so the bullying continued until my son fought back. My husband and I do not encourage violence as the answer to a problem. When he went back to school after the 1 day suspension, the name-calling stopped and broken pencils were no longer left on his desk. It saddens me to think that it had to get to that to cease the bullying. Have modern-day parents stopped teaching kids to respect the rights and property of others?