Well, it is settled.

[petmoosie]

Emily is getting the "self-rescuing princess" shirt from Think Geek.

Now to rescue her at the playground without seeming to. Sigh.

The boys are teasing and chasing the girls and it has gotten bad. Throwing woodchips and chasing with sticks. The parent of the boy that is the ringleader wants to let the kids settle it themselves. But it is not getting settled. Sigh.

Comments

[fire-salamander.livejournal.com]

Sometimes even the self-rescuing princess needs to be rescued. I should know. :-)

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

Yes. I know.

All the boys want to do is run after being shut in the school all day. I may set up some races. All these kids like to do running club in the spring, but there isn't a winter running club.

[cozit.livejournal.com]

Duh, of *course* the brat's parents think the "kids will work it out". Wanna see that same parent start screaming blue murder? Just have *one* kid tease his kid *once*, when he can't do anything about it.

Besides, doesn't matter what that parent thinks.. doesn't the school have *any* no-bullying policy? Even (or especially) if it's a group going after a group, it's not right. If it is continuing, point out to the principal that you wonder if whether or not someone had put a stop to the group of boys who gang-banged a girl at a school dance recently back when they were younger and "just teasing"... whether a different scenario might have taken place at the dance... Or pick your own similar story (the group beating a couple of kids senseless at Mt. Hebron HS near here, for example... though turns out the kids involved had never been students there, they had to have been somewhere.

Or heck, future gang activity. Sorry, I do *not* buy the idea that it is *ever* OK to continue to tease and torment after the person being teased complains. period. It's one thing when friends are goofing around and all understand that... it's another when someone is attacking another, even if it is "just" with words.

And the fact that they are throwing *anything* on the playground? Even if it wasn't being thrown at someone, just thrown, at either my kids' elementary or at at least one of the schools that I was working in... those kids would have found themselves sitting next to the teacher for the remainder of the recess... at least... period.

Y'know... the funny thing is that I keep hearing about how much better the schools are in MoCo than in HoCo... but you're the third parent I know who has had similar stories about how the kids are permitted to behave towards each other. Not that my county has it perfect, but with the guidelines that are in place, there is *no* way bullying behavior (once known) is going to be allowed to continue... I've heard of the district administration stepping in once... I suspect because it looks very bad to claim to have a zero tolerance, then have a principal overlook an issue... but still, *something* ends up happening.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

This is after school. The group of parents is in charge, not the principal. It's similar to a playgroup but located at the school playground.

When your child is in first grade, the border between group of friends goofing off and ... not is very fluid. We're trying to help them negociate and play together.

These kids usually do better after a rainy day where they weren't allowed to play after school. It's a privilege (for them) and when they lose it for a while, they step up and behave better. Of course, other things that help are bringing other games, like chalk for writing or soccer or footballs for playing ball-based games.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

During school, they aren't allowed to pick up sticks or woodchips AT ALL. They also aren't allowed to dig holes. It's a bit draconian, but I can see where it is necessary. We give them more freedom after school as long as they use it well. If they don't use it well, we take them home!

Since this was/is after school, I am about 10-20 feet away. Emily doesn't always get me right away.