Feb 21st, 2007
What you don’t want to see in your inbox…
Let me preface this by the title I see in my inbox…First I noticed his teacher’s name MISS SoandSo and then I see the title next to it…Buster Wrestling
Never a good sign, never. I must say my heart dropped a little because he also has some previous offenses. But I had to read on…
Hi (mother of Buster),
Just a quick note about an incident that happened at the end of the
day…
While getting ready to go home and I was attending to a student in the
class, (Buster) and another student began to wrestle. This is unacceptable
and (Buster) owes me his recess tomorrow. I need (Buster) to be responsible for
himself and be able to do what he should be doing even if I am not
watching him every minute. I talked briefly with him about this and
will talk more with him tomorrow.
Thank you,
(Miss SoandSo)
Can I blame it all on my little brother? He gave my son a punching bag with two sets of gloves for Christmas. Then he proceeded over the next two weeks to give him some lessons in fighting.
About two weeks after the winter break my husband received a call (because I couldn’t be reached) that Buster had knocked a kid’s tooth out on the bus!
I screamed. This was my baby. My gentle giant. Who is so incredible with his younger siblings. Then I text messaged my ENTIRE family. A crisis like this could not be kept silent. Of course my little brother, the cause of all this trouble text-ed back “Did the kid deserve it?”
Needless to say I loaded Buster up in the mini and headed straight over to the victim’s house for an apology.
This boy thing is new to me. He is the first born, so after the first five seconds the two werethe best of friends and we had a play-date set up for the next week.
When asked what brought on the assault Buster’s reply was “He was annoying me so I karate chopped him.”
I should also note that the victim’s front tooth was ready to fall out, and he was actually happy that Buster took care of it for him. Although there was some blood involved, and I’m sure all the kindergartners went home and told their parents.
Next incident…yes there was also another one after this catastrophe. Apparently the game was “War” a favorite of the kindies, it is always between the boys and the girls. One engaging young boy decided to play on the girls team. Buster didn’t like this and threatened him.
The next day the boy again played on the girls side. Buster threw him down on the ground, and another boy came to the victim’s rescue.
Fast forward to today…although this sounds like both parties were in agreement to wrestle WHAT IS UP WITH MY SON?!!
Is he doomed?
I involve him in other physical activities. What I really would like to do would be to put him in a martial arts class where the instructor puts the fear into them that they must never fight outside of class.
In the meantime, funds are low, and the local YMCA Basketball will have to do.
I try to reassure the other parents that we are a normal, peaceful home.
Oh dear.
Good Enough
Boys. Ack! Eep. I’m glad you’re going through this first so you’ll have it all figured out by the time Magoo is old enough to successfully karate chop people. He’s already trying but not so great on the execution… yet.
Sounds like buster enjoys rivalry. I don’t think it has as much to do with using physical energy as it has to do with competition. Some boys just have more testosterone than others. I was a bit of a scrapper in my day, but as I am female and I only picked on the boys it never got home to my parents. I can’t count the number of recesses I spent in the classroom with the teacher. I wouldn’t worry to much about it. At least you know he will watch out for his younger sister if the boys try to mess with her.
“He was annoying me so I karate chopped him.”
LOL…oh my!! How I wish at times *I* could do that to people… ::giggles::
First off, he is not doomed. He’s only in Kindergarten. Most of the big mistakes I make as a parent came when I take a moment in the present and project it into the future. If the image of your baby in juvey has crossed your mind lately, you’ll know what I mean. That said, I would do whatever I could to get him in a karate class with a GREAT teacher because that is the perfect solution. Also, you might tell him if he ever starts another fight, the punching bag will be taken away forever. If he really is, as you say, lovely with his siblings, then the only thing I would look out for is whether or not there is something going on at home that is frustrating him that he doesn’t feel he can express at home. Oh one more thing, (my I am loquacious this morning) act out some scenarios at home with him to help him figure out how he should react, how to say no, how to express his anger with his words etc. Good luck!
I think anna has food advice. He is still little, and just needs redirection. He needs to see from example how to respond to problems. He’s just testing the world, so just keep teaching. Calvin is 5 too, but not in kindergarten yet. I have grave apprehensions, but I’m trying pretty hard to teach problem solving without violence.
wow, I meant GOOD advice!
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