School

Now I remember why I hate school.

So we've been dealing with what most would class as major issues with James at school. It started out that we were being called in to discuss his issues with a couple of kids on the playground. At the time I was a bit dubious because I felt that he was being singled out for stuff that I have seen plenty of other kids do. But because we were interested in dealing with issues instead of burying our heads in the sand about them we went along and discussed things with his teacher.

James has never been a talkative soul, in fact trying to get an answer to a simple question can be a struggle so when he made a couple of comments over the last school holiday's about 2 particular children we took him seriously because they were spontaneous and anyone who knows him knows he rarely says anything about serious things spontaneously. :) So when school went back we had a chat to his teacher about it, asked her if she'd noticed anything out of the ordinary and told her to keep her eyes out. Then just last week we had independent confirmation by both another teacher and a student in his class that what he had been telling us was happening was indeed going on. Turns out our boy wasn't the 'perpetrator' but was actually on the receiving end of these particular students. So of course we saw red!!!! Here we've been trying to deal with his unacceptable behaviour at school for MONTHS when it turns out that for months he's actually been harassed by these kids and anything he's been 'caught' doing is in defense of himself; no wonder the poor kid has had issues with anger and aggression lately as I suspect he feels like a) it's HIS fault, b) that no one is hearing his side and that c) no one cares because they can't see that he is the victim not the instigator. So to say the least, he's since been told that he is allowed to defend himself if necessary, within reason, because he usually tells a teacher or us about it where he would just lash out before and we'll deal with it then.

I know we can't protect them from everything,b ut it seems really unfair for him to be labelled as something he is not because these kids, when he tries to avoid them just follow him around telling other kids not to play with him or try and incite him to do something so he'll get in trouble. We are still deciding if we want to take the issue further, because at least one of the mothers doesn't seem that keen, or truly bothered, by her sons' behaviour unless he is the one who is on the 'receiving' end when James stands up for himself. THEN she wants to step in and stop whatever it is she sees that she doesn't like..........so it's okay for her son to run around not allowing James to 'get on with it' but if James in any way tries to get away or stand up for himself then it all has to stop??????

Academically, he seems to be doing really well. He's a great reader and his maths skills are coming along nicely.....though I think he's like me and would much rather be reading than doing maths. :) He's alot more talkative and seems to have mellowed out a bit in recent weeks since we've found all this playground stuff out so hopefully things will continue to improve.