I was stood in the playground waiting for my kids to come out whilst chatting with my five year old about his day.
My 7 year old came
out and looked unhappy so I asked him what was wrong. He wouldn’t tell me.
Back home his temper was riled and his answers were short and snappy, like his slaps to anyone coming near him. After nearly a hour of this and no amount of coaxing I finally forced him to sit on his bed.
I gave him a few mins breathing space then went to him. Over the course of the next few mins my blood turned to ice as he told me why he was upset.
My son is very small for his age. His five year old brother is nearly bigger than him and hes always called midget in school. He doesn’t believe one day he will grow and reacts violently in defense of himself when called it. His nickname is scrappy.
He told me that at lunchtime three kids aged 10 cornered him in a secluded part of the playground. There two held him and one tried to tie his hands to the railing with something he had pulled out of his pocket.
My son was told he was going to be stretched to make him taller. By the neck. Scared witless he had wet himself and they teased him.
He was frantically looking around for someone and saw his 9 year old sister. She saw him and came running over as one of them punched my son in the stomach twice before my daughter kicked him and dragged her brother in school where he hyperventilated.
I spoke to my daughter and she confirmed everything and gave me names.
The next morning my partner and I took my very scared 7 year old into school and demanded to see the head. We were sent to the deputy head who taught my eldest last year and is very kind.
We explained everything to him and he was horrified and adamant he would get to the bottom of it and those would be punished. He understood we would not bring my son back till we knew he was safe and he asked me not to involve the police till he had a chance to talk to the boys. They were in his class. I agreed and we agreed to meet at the end of the day to discuss what he found out.
Come home time he found me and my son who was holding my hand. When three boys came out my son squeezed my hand so hard I thought he was breaking my fingers. The teacher noticed though and reassured my son nobody was going to get him and they would have to get through him first.
He said the three boys denied all knowledge and that he was struggling to find witnesses as he thought the boys were using intimidation. He was furious that someone so small like my son could be treated so appallingly and was determined to stop it. He seemed really upset.
The only confusion was my daughter had said whilst talking to him alone that my son had made it all up. That she backed him up as he threatened to hit her.
We left it there and agreed to meet again the next day.
At home the two were quiet. Eventually I collared them and asked what was the truth. They both cried.
My son eventually admitted he had lied. The boys had teased him and tried to corner him but he was that frightened he wet himself and hyperventilated. Katie had seen him and took him in and in his state of fear his brain made up the fact they tied his hands, and threatened to stretch him. They hadn’t punched him either.
I was horrified.
I had all but called for these boys lynching for their treatment of my son. There had been talk of expulsion if found to be true. They have exams this year. Important exams. It meant two things. One- they were being truthful. They didn’t touch him.
I was going to have to go back and say my son and daughter were liars and say sorry. The deputy head had wasted an entire day trying to sort it all out, talk to people. I felt so bad.
That night I didst sleep. I was scared. My son was scared too. He was frightened they would shout at him. His worst fear is people shouting at him.
In the morning stomach churning i marched them in and explained exactly what had happened. I apologised so many times and I told the deputy head to punish my two to show them they cant do things like that. I was mortified and tried to explain I hadn’t raised them to lie.
He let them go to class, then sat with me and told me that he was a parent himself and if his kids had said the same he would have done the same. He wasn’t angry and more than that he was relieved that he didn’t have three kids in his class capable of that behavior.
He would talk to all concerned and put across my apologies and as a final note as a personal note from him it was to not let this experience deter me in future if something came up and I needed his help. As the deputy its his job to look into these things and sort them out and this was a good outcome for him.
I was and still am mortified but so glad he didn’t draw it out or make a example of it. As for my kids well there was no further school action taken but at home they got a dressing down from their dad and I. Both were very sorry. Lets hope they have learned the lesson.
This inspirational post was written anonymously by a mom who is either a member of my Facebook mums group, a Twitter follower or has been submitted to me via email. I have full permission to share her story. If you can relate to this post and would like to share your own anonymous post please contact me. You could help us share the blogs love to helping others by sharing via the social sharing buttons.
