Bryce Getting Bullied

Bryce came home from school last Friday exceptionally filthy. He always comes home dirty, but that day was bad. I asked how he got so dirty and he said "I got beat up." No elaborating, no details. I would ask a question, he would answer ONLY what I asked.

I did not say anything to his teacher because he was so no-chalant about it, I figured it was no big deal.

Yesterday he came home even dirtier than Friday with reddish brown spots on his shirt. I asked what the spots on his shirt were. "I got beat up." Again, no elaborating. I asked what the spots were again. "The kid that beat me up gave me a bloody nose." He says it like it was no big deal.

I finally got out of him that it happened at recess and he did not tell anyone. I sent an email to his teacher this morning telling her I only had Bryce's side of the story, didn't know what happened, but told her who did it and what Bryce said happened. I requested that she find out what happened and take care of it and that if it was just a case of playing too rough, a bloody nose was still unacceptable.

This afternoon she sent me an email back. She asked the class what happened and the kid admitted he gave Bryce a bloody nose. He was playing army men and somehow Bryce got caught in the crossfire.

Both the boys that beat him up have to sit out recess for the rest of this week and all of next week. I happen to already have his conference with his teacher tomorrow and we will discuss the bigger issue of why did a teacher not see his bloody nose (or the blood all over his shirt) and ask what happened and why is there not enough supervision on the playground that a teacher did not witness this?

The teacher asked me to reiterate to Bryce the importance of letting an adult know what is happening so it can be taken care of. I told her we had already had that discussion and it is something that I will be reminding him of frequently.

I am glad he lets things just roll off of him like that, and he doesn't get hot-headed. At the same time, if he lets kids think they can walk all over him or beat him up and he won't say or do anything, he is just inviting kids to pick on him.