A few weeks ago, my daughter informed me of a girl on the bus that wasn't being respectful of her. This girl is in her class and is supposedly a friend of my daughters. She has called my daughter names and told her she hated her and didn't want her in her life. She has even gone to the extent of hitting my daughter in the head with a back pack full of books. It happened again today. I am fully aware that 10 year old girls are going to fuss and fight one day and be best of friends the next only to fuss and fight again the day after. I was, after all, a 10 year old girl once. Kids can be mean and say hurtful things. I asked my daughter what her response to the other girl was and she informed me that she didn't say anything to her because she feared the girl would do it again, only harder.
My advice to my daughter the first time this occurred was to ignore the mean words. Even though my daughter insisted otherwise, I had hoped that the back pack incident had been unintentional. But after it happening yet again, I'm beginning to be concerned.
I have had issues with the school before not taking me or my daughter seriously. They tend to brush any "trouble" under the rug as if it didn't happen. For example, when a teacher told my daughter that her hair looked stupid resulting in my daughters hair cut. I was unsure how to approach this but after considering my options I decided to send a note to the driver of the bus and see where it goes from there.
To make matters worse, my daughter is supposed to sing in the school talent show with this girl. Maybe they'll be "friends" again by then.
Anyway, I guess what I'm asking is am I overreacting? Or is this little girl taking things too far this time? What would you do?
I don't know why, in today's society, ANY bullying would be swept under the rug. Sadly, though, it is. My 10 year old daughter had to sit and listen to a group of five girls pick on her- telling her she is ugly and stupid, among other nasty comments? Why didn't she walk away? The school rule says once seated for lunch the students may not get up. The principals actions? My daughter must eat in the principals office so she doesn't get picked on. No discipline for the five girls. Just hide my daughter away in isolation- giving her the idea she did something wrong by telling. After a week of this, we said NO more and told our daughter to eat in the cafeteria with everyone else. If she was picked on she was to get up and go to the office to call us. We would worry about the discipline later. I guess I share this to tell you that you are not alone. Yes, one of this group of girls is now "friends" with my daughter, though Andrea knows I don't approve. They will not be hanging around together outside of school. It's hard to know where to draw the line. I would definitely report the incident but say this time it's not a big deal. You will expect the bus driver to keep an eye out for further misbehavior and handle it appropriately if it happens again. Good luck!
ReplyDelete