You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'?

I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'
I Said You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
You Got To Be Startin' Somethin'

I'm beginning to think I did my children a disservice when I taught them to be nice kids. Once again, a bully has targeted one of my children. The big difference is that this time the bastard has targeted Joey. About a month or so after school started, Joey started telling me about this kid who was aggravating him in class. It started small. This kid would talk to him over and over and over again, quietly, repetitively, poking at him verbally until Joey responded by either asking him to stop or by answering whatever this kid was saying. And, the kid would keep going until Joey answered loud enough that Joey would get caught by the teacher and chastised for it.

Then, it progressed to full blown physical assault. Most of the time, this kid would do something to Joey in class (like the time he tried to knee Joey in the balls but hit his thigh instead) and the teachers would step in before Joey could defend himself. About 2 weeks ago, this not so little bastard punched Joey in the face. Luckily, Joey used his Tae Kwon Do training and was able to prevent this kid from landing a second blow. Joey came out of it relatively unscathed and the other kid did get in trouble.

This afternoon, I got  call from the school principal about forty-five minutes before school was due to let out. The little bastard put his hands on Joey again. He started by splashing water at Joey in the bathroom and ended up pushing him hard backwards causing Joey to hit his head on the wall. After the kid splashed him, Joey was mumbling under his breath...saying things quietly that would have gotten him in trouble if he said them out loud...but, he did that in response to the splashing. The principal gave me the typical spiel about how they were encouraging Joey to avoid this kid and trying to give him the skills to deal with it by going for help. I told her I would never tell my child to be a door mat...that while I have expressly forbid my kids to be the one starting something...that they would have my full support if they retaliated physically. I also told her this was the second time in less than 2 weeks that this kid had attacked Joey and it needed to stop now or I would involve outside authority (read the police). The Principal, Mrs. S, said they really hoped Joey would follow their advice because she didn't want to see Joey get hurt (the kid bullying him is a big 13 yr old still in 5th grade). I'm afraid I wasn't too diplomatic. I laughed and said if this kid didn't stop and pushed Joey to the point of responding that Joey wouldn't be the one getting hurt because Joey has his black belt in Tae Kwon Do. This same kind of general nonsense went on for a while longer. I thanked her for calling to let me know Joey was ok and reiterated my stance on things.

At this point, I fully expect to get a call from the school in the next week or two. I'm expecting this call because Vic and I have told Joey he has our full support and full permission to take the little bastard down if he lays a hand on him again. We also told him that if the kid goes down and stops fighting him, Joey should back off but, if the kid keeps fighting then Joey should continue to use every bit of his skill to defend himself. We will deal with the school afterward and we WILL call the police on this kid if this happens again. I will NOT have another one of my children made miserable. I will NOT let another one of my children be driven to the point that they say "I'd rather die than go back there" when they mention school. The big difference is this time the bullying asshole has gone after Joey and Joey will fight back.

Bring it on.