I encountered my first dose of bullying this fall. My 5yo DD came home from school and when I asked her how her day was she said "It was good because Donald stayed in the office all day." I asked more questions, found out Donals was a boy who "gets in trouble a lot." Since he spent the day in the office I figured it was being handled well and left all alone. A few days later my DD came home with red staining her whole chin, neck and shirt. Apparently Donald asked her if she wanted a drink then held it to her mouth so she could sip - before she could sip her squeezed the juice box all over her.
I was so saddened for my baby. I went into instant defense mode and called the school. I met with the teachers and found out that Donald is in the class for the second year in a row. He is suffering from some major problems at home, and is being very closely monitored by several sources. I sat down with my DD for a while...chatted about what to do in these cases...about how its okay to not always feel brave (she has abig thing with wanting to do things alone to be "brave") and to go immediately to her teachers for help. There hasn't been any issues since...I think after my meeting with the teachers there was some seat changing and my DD says Donald hasn't been "in trouble for a long time." Perhaps he was testing his environment and my DD was the target... I don't know.
This is my biggest struggle with motherhood...accepting that I can't always be by their side to walk them through challenges. Accepting that letting them go it alone sometimes adds to their independence and strength. All the issues surrounding this... *sigh*
I'm hoping that I handled the situation above well... but I honestly don't know. I'm new to this.
