I am overwhelmed with the response my post on bullying received.  Seems there are a lot more people with bullying issues then I ever imagined.

A lot has happened in the two months since my last post on this issue. Back in February, I was in contact with our school’s principal many times, as the incidents kept happening.  At that time she assured me that the child in question was being dealt with both at home and at school.  She also let me know that there was a team in place at school that was dealing with this problem and others (I can’t believe there were others in the same situation, but there were). The appropriate people at the school board had also been notified.

We are definitely now seeing some results.  The bully seems to have calmed down quite a bit both in the classroom and in the schoolyard. In fact on some days he seems like a different kid.  Seems he was after attention (perhaps not getting what he needed at home?) but didn’t have the tools to go about it the right way.  In fact in one of the sit downs my son and this boy had with the principal, when she asked him if he knew what he was doing was hurting my son, he said no but that he wanted to be friends with him. Steps were made then to keep the two of them at a distance until the boy could demonstrate better behaviour (i.e being kept in at recess, entering the school after my son).

Seems to have worked for the most part where my son and this boy are concerned. Unfortunately for this boy, he is now the target of a schoolyard/classmate bully (a very angry individual who needs more help than the school can provide, but who will get that help in the near future).  In fact, my son has been known to stick up for this boy, telling me that this new bully that has emerged is a 1000 times worse than this boy ever was. Maybe he has stopped bullying my son because he knows what it feels like now, or maybe he is now getting the attention he craved all along, I don’t think we will ever know.  I only know that I am relieved that progress is being made and the appropriate people took our concerns seriously, as they should have.

As for my son, he is happy that his parents have been sticking up for him and we are definitely starting to see more of the “old” N.  We are not completely out of the woods yet, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.