Trouble Maker?

[Debi]

WERE YOU OR ONE OF YOU KIDS EVER CALLED TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE?
HOW ABOUT THE BOSS'S OFFICE?

​

 

[JahaRa]

No but I had my daughter's teacher called in to the principal's office when she spanked a kid in front of the whole class and my daughter came home traumatized.

 

[Debi]

I never ended up in the principal's office, however my oldest made a regular habit of it! What did surprise me was when I got a call from the elementary school on my middle son! My straight A student was known to always maintain his cool and never get in trouble.

On this day, the principal called me and was very calm. "M was in a fight today." My first reply was, "You have got to be kidding me? Are we talking about the right child?"

He went on to tell me he did have to send him home for the day and I'd have to come and get him, however, he also felt he had been bullied for so long he just lost it. Kind of like the scene in The Christmas Story with Ralphie! He was not suspended, and the principal said that although he couldn't condone the fight, he felt that this may have "changed" a few minds about picking on him and he was surprised he made it this long without blowing up.

That was the last time he was ever called to the office, and the last time he got bullied.

 

[Duke]

Principal? Not that I can remember.

Boss? Many times.

 

[Selectric]

I don't remember being called to principal or my boss. My niece had same thing as your son Debi. A kid bullied my niece for awhile until she almost broke his nose lol.

 

[JahaRa]

My oldest liked to wear dresses when she was in grade school. She moved to a new school in 2nd grade and asked me to get her some shorts she could wear under her skirts because the boys on the play ground would flip the girls skirts up and run away laughing. Most of the girls quit wearing skirts but she was not going to let anyone dictate how she dressed. One day I was going to her school for some reason and the kids were on the playground. 3 boys ran up to my daughter and flipped her skirt up. She turned so fast and grabbed the middle boy by the shirt and pulled him to her so that her face was in his and yelled to never do that again. She then shoved him, turned her back and went back to what ever she had been doing. Boys did not pick on her again.

 

[ozentity]

Got sent there a few times but it was never my fault . We had a strict school and you got two cuts of the cane on your fingers for not wearing a tie, four for being cheeky to the teacher and six for fighting. I often wonder how my hands are still functional .

 

[Stevedog]

He went on to tell me he did have to send him home for the day and I'd have to come and get him, however, he also felt he had been bullied for so long he just lost it. Kind of like the scene in The Christmas Story with Ralphie! He was not suspended, and the principal said that although he couldn't condone the fight, he felt that this may have "changed" a few minds about picking on him and he was surprised he made it this long without blowing up.

Debi, I know the point of the story here is about how your son stood up for himself and I'm loathe to take away from that. However, I'm struck more by the idea that the principal was fully aware of this bullying issue and apparently had been for some time and yet it took your child's own actions to put a stop to it.

In a somewhat related story of my own. We had a similar situation many years ago when our son was in preschool. My son had been quietly playing near another young boy was also playing by himself. Two older kids snatched the toy away from the boy who is not my son and started to play "keep away" throwing it back and forth between them. A teacher across the play room saw this and started walking over to deal with the situation. She said that she only got about 2 steps before seeing my son stand up, grab the toy away from one of the older kids, shove him to the ground, give the toy back to the original boy and then sat back down to keep playing quietly by himself. The teacher told us that she disciplined the two older boys and informed their parents, however she had not said anything to our son and let us know she was secretly proud of him for standing up on someone else's behalf.

More recently, just a few months ago, my son's teacher talked to my wife who is also a teacher at the same school. My son is in 8th grade and often complains about being in class with a bunch of trouble makers who don't want to learn, worse is their antics keep him from learning. On this particular day, the teacher had to take a student out into the hall for a talking to. Apparently, seeing a classmate getting in that kind of trouble had no effect on the rest of the trouble makers as they simply saw it as a opportunity to try things without a teacher in the classroom. One kid got up and started messing with stuff my son was working on, grabbing things off his desk and making lewd comments. My son first said "Please leave me alone" and when that didn't work he tried "I said Stop!" which also didn't work. The teacher said she walked back in the room just as my son yelled out "Get the F--- away from me!! Right Now!!" The teacher has told us that our son is one of the most well behaved, mild mannered students she has ever taught. Seeing our son's outburst, knowing his personality and the personality of the kid getting yelled at, the teacher immediately took my son's side and asked the other student why he was up out of his seat and causing so much trouble that another student has to yell at him for it. This teacher told my wife that she was leaving out my son's uncharacteristic F-Bomb in her report to the principal and only including that other students are having to yell at this trouble maker for his behavior. Due to past behavior and this incident with my son, that trouble maker was no longer a student three weeks later.

 

[GoneWestUtah]

The last time my daughter was bullied in school, at her Jr. High, I went in and "spoke" with the principal in his office. I explained the situation, and leaning over close to his face, said "You have ONE chance to fix this, then we do it my way." Stood up, shook his hand, and walked out.

That kid never bullied anyone ever again, to the best of my knowledge.

I had run-ins with bullies during my own school days, but only once with each one. They misjudged me, badly. I believe some of them still walk with a limp. Good.

Dad taught me to stand up for myself and fight. In those days schoolyard justice wasn't always an occasion to call in counselors and the United Nations. Things worked themselves out.

 

[JahaRa]

I just remembered my adorable nephew was sent to the principal's office twice. Once because he had grown about 6 inches over the summer from 7th to 8th grade and he was taller than all the women teachers. When his mother took him to get a winter coat he insisted that he wanted a black trench coat. She argued because those aren't very warm but he insisted that is what he wanted. She bought it for him and the first day he wore it to school he was sent to the principal's office for intimidating the teachers. (he did no such thing, they just found the coat and his height intimidating). Both his parents went to the principal's office and were able to convince him to make the teachers calm down over the trench coat. Then he was silly and took a dud grenade that my brother had given him to decorate his locker. For some reason he had it with him in his 1st class of the day and his friends got it and started tossing it around, which caused the teacher to take it away. They discussed it and he showed her how it was a dummy and she said he could have it back after class. She got a phone call and some assistant principal came to sit with the class while she was gone. He saw that grenade and freaked out. Grabbed it, ran to the principals office, yelling for the secretary to call the bomb squad. She did, and he then pulled the pin and tossed it into the principlas office (which happened to be vacant at the time). The kids all went on to their other classes not knowing the drama unfolding in the principal's office. At lunch the police escorted my nephew out and while he was waiting in the hall out side he heard the bomb squad captain yelling at the assistant principal calling him all kinds of names like "idiot". Then my nephew was suspended. My brother had a meeting with the principal, who thought the whole thing was a big stupid mess caused by the assistant. My nephew was banned from school for 6 weeks, but he still got his school work and was expected to do it and it was not to affect his grades.

While he was out of school he let his hair grow out and then asked my mother to shave his head so that he had a mohawk. My brother said it looked like he had a squirrel on his head. Then after a while when everyone got used to the mohawk he died it red, then blue, then purple before he shaved it off.