King Me

…or should I say: "crown me king."

That's what Colter can say now that he's won the Plumb Elementary Third Grade Gifted Checkers Tournament. He beat a dozen of the smartest kids in his grade.

I couldn't be more proud.

Unfortunately this comes on the heels of finding out that Colter was getting "picked on."

And so, I am concerned.

I don't think that Colter is a natural born target, but he isn't very adept at the thrust and parry of third grade teasing. He did, however, handle the two recent incidents well. When two boys ran past him and screamed in his ear, he told his teacher and they got in trouble. When two girls taunted him in lunch line he turned away and stuck his fingers in his ears. A year ago he might have physically defended his honor in either case ... and someone would have gotten hurt.

As we approach summer and the less structured venue of camp, part of me worries that he will revert to his old ways, while the other part of me knows that no matter how bad things get, he can always challenge them to a game of checkers, and emerge victorious.

How would you help your child if someone were teasing him?

Comments

[kimberlee]

I have a daughter in 3rd grade and can I just tell you that those kids are BRUTAL! She handled it well for a while but then she sunk inside herself and became distant and a tad rude. At this point i knew I had to intervine. I conferenced with her teacher who had noticed the same changes I did and had already moved desk away from the teasing party. As it turned out, this teaser wasn't just singling out my daughter but most of the class and I wasn't the only parent with the same type of conference. It's hard to see your kids go through things like this but I keep telling her to treat everyone the same, with respect and care and then if they choose to be mean, it's on them not her.

[VJ]

If the teasing were taking place near by me, I guess I would call Tony inside and involve him with something else. Otherwise I would tell the offenders it was time to go home.

Since I homeschool, I don't have to worry about getting reports second or third hand, or have to try to decipher behavioral changes.

It's a good question to ask and I thank you for asking it.

[Rockchild]

I don't know what Colter should do, because I still don't know what to do when I get teased, and it still happens. My mom says don't pay attention to them like they are not there, but if they don't stop, she says to say something back that would make them look dumb in front of there friends, but I'm not good with words.

Mom tells me to don't fight no matter how much they tease me, but if they try to hurt me, then I can hurt them back, like the time I flushed this mean kids head in a toilet, without toilet paper, and that stinked. But I said I was sorry and didn't tell his friends, and we became friends, until he hit me with an egg not long ago, and that made me mad, because he's wasting food!

If these kids don't stop bugging Colter, I hope somebody talks to them, before there head ends up in a toilet!