so. yesterday, my son, my Tiny Tank had a note sent home with him. this
only happens when he's misbehaved. he did not give it to me though. he
left it with his grandmother who had picked him up from school. later,
his momma came over after work and we were getting geared up for
soccer practice. apparently his grandmother had informed her of the
note and she pulled him aside for a little talk. i eavesdropped of
course. as she talked to him, i learned that he had punched a classmate while
they were both playing in the recess center. turns out, the kid spit
in his face, not once, but twice. i held my tongue as she gently
talked to him about not hitting other kids because we're in this
together and i would never want to undercut her authority, but the
issue continued to gnaw at me. afterwards, we went to practice, then
out to dinner as a family and had a good evening. i would never say anything in front of Tank, of course, but i sent a
text this morning because had someone spit on me, i don't care if it's
a man, a woman, or a child, i'm punching them in the head, and that i
didn't expect my son to put up with that nonsense either. i was amused
that my son reacted the same way i would. i also wanted she and i to
be on the same page where stuff like this is concerned. i hoped it
wouldn't start a fight but i felt strongly that i should say something
about it. i was bullied relentlessly as a kid and i'll be d*mned
before i let my son endure that. her response was, "it's hard being a parent. you want to teach them
that violence isn't necessarily the answer, that you can't just punch
everything that offends you, but i would have punched a b!tch for
spitting on me too." turns out i didn't need to be concerned at all. we're on the same page here. i see a lot of legislation protecting people from bullying and even
more against those who would retaliate against bullies. as a result i
think we're raising up a generation who have never developed the
ability to deal with bullies, who do not stand up for themselves, who
depend on someone else to protect them. and i hate it. where i come
from, there are consequences for acting a fool. i can't keep you from
spitting on me, but i'll d*mn sure make you wish you hadn't. and while
i know some of you are thinking violence doesn't solve anything, i
disagree. bullying became less of an issue once those who bullied me
understood there was a good chance i wasn't going to play victim, that
i was in fact going to do my level best to knock out their teeth. call me neanderthal. call me a redneck. i don't care. this is how i
am, and i don't expect my son or daughters to be any different.
ghost
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