My friend's child recently was being bullied by someone in the kindergarten, which reminds me of my own experience long time ago.
I was 5 years old then, I went to school in a yellow mini school bus. There was this fat girl in the same bus (6 years old), who came to my classroom one morning, asked me out and demanded me to spell out the 12 multiplication formula (i.e. 12x1=12, 12x2=24, etc). Obviously I did not do a good job, so she squeezed my neck a while so that I cannot breath for few second. I remember there were also another 2 girls standing besides her guarding.
I went home feeling very scare, and not until dinner time, I cannot stand it and burst into tears in front of family members. After they found out what happen, to my horror, my mom laughed and sarcastically told me: "That is good, you can learn multiplication faster." After I heard this, my heart sink... what something matter to me most, and the time I need help and comfort, she left me with a laugh!
The next day, when the school bus came in front of my house, my grandma accompanied me to the school bus. I was so reluctant to step into it, but I did. At that moment, my grandma did an amazing thing. She told the school bus auntie (driver) that the fat girl is bullying me. The school bus auntie turns around and shouted to the back: "Fat girl, are you bullying 1025?" (1025 is my house no. I stayed then, she called some kids by house no.)
Since then, the fat girl never comes to my classroom anymore, and I do not know what happen to her after that. I was surprised then, with such a simple instruction from an adult can stop her from what she was doing...
After few days, that scary thought left me, and I am able to occupy my little brain with other fun things again.
Now I have grown up, and when I think about this incident, I really appreciate what a small task my grandma did. She indirectly taught me a lesson early. No matter how insignificant this bully thingy seems, it can be big to children. I need to treat every case with the right attitude. I in a way also pity that fat girl... may be her parents gave her a lot of pressure, including spelling the multiplication at early age... which cause her to became a bully.
If our kid suddenly do not want to go to school, or afraid to go to school, try to find out whether he/she met a bully. If our kid was a bully, it is serious too, we need to look into it.
'The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.' ~ Proverbs 29:15
