Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bully, bullying, Charlie Sheen, discipline, feelings, funny, hyper, kids, parents, school, sensitive
I have the feeling that this post may not come off too favorably with some people however political correctness has never been my strong suit so why not do what I do best. Time to RANT!
For the past few years I have watched my children grow from kids to teens and even to young adults. The teen years (as we should all agree) can have trials and tribulation and it’s during this time period that I believe (and I am NOT a trained therapist or expert) that we learn a lot of coping skills. It’s when we learn to either “get over it” or allow small issues to consume us. Let’s face it, it’s drama time!
I’ve been fortunate to have a daughter that hasn’t had a whole lot of drama and believe me, I feel pretty lucky! I haven’t felt that lucky when it comes to my son however, and saying that REALLY bothers me, but not for the reason that you might think of.
Kids will be kids, and boys will be boys but our society is less inclined to allow kids to BE kids. Parents have become hypersensitive and they’re imposing this on their children. Is it in an effort to shield children from the dangers of the real world or have some parents become the biggest control freaks on the planet? Either way it’s resulting in children growing up to be woosies and it’s really starting to piss me off.
This morning I watched a snip-it of a new PSA about bullying and it featured the President and Mrs. Obama. Bullying is a real problem, it’s talked about almost daily on the news. But my question is: where does society draw the line between bullying, picking-on, and just plain joking around? AND since I’m asking that question why not this one: why are so many mommies and daddies coming to the defense of their teens when their kids get picked on??? Have we as a society forgotten to teach our kids that “I’m rubber and you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you”? I remember my parents telling me to figure it out on my own, and I did!
So as you may have already figured out, I have the “bully”. My son is a great kid….he’s smart, gets great grades, he has a lot of friends etc. etc. His fatal flaw is that he’s been labeled a bully. I’m going to let you be the judge and give you some examples:
a. I got a call from his school because he called a red-headed girl “Ginger”
b. I got a call from the school because he told a kid that was annoying him to “shut his—–” (fill in the blanks, I thought it was funny) The best part is that the kid hauled off and punched him…..and my kid was STILL labeled the bully.
c. I got called into the school because my son attempted to pants another kid. Actually, I got called to the police station for that one…..that’s right, my son has a warning on his permanent record for attempting to pants another kid…..it wasn’t even successful!!!!!
d. He received detention for defending a friend that was getting teased by another kid. Of course his “defense” tactics resulted in a shoving match but none the less, he got in trouble, AND I had to hear about it from the “teasing” kids parents.
This is just a small example of the incidences that have taken place over the past 3 years. It should be noted too that I am NOT the type of parent to rush to my child’s defense. Actually I’ve done just the opposite. I’ve been the punish-first-ask-questions-later kind of parent. In fact I have gone so far as to pull him out of one school and place him in another, smaller school where there is more discipline. Guess what’s happened…..we went from little discipline to hyper-discipline and now every time my son opens his mouth somebody gets their feelings hurt and I get a call from the school.
I’ve considered having his mouth sewn shut and I’ve started sending him to a therapist (who told me that he’s a great kid with little to no issues so she’s “coaching” him instead of counseling him). But the more I think about it the more upset I get with myself because I could be accused of trying to stifle his creativity! Seriously, this kid says some pretty funny stuff and he’s incredibly quick-witted. What if his destiny is to become a comedian…..oh God help me, he could be the next Charlie Sheen.
