Bullies

My son, Kaleb, made friends right away with Victoria, a girl in his class from America. She was the only one who could speak English on the playground so the two were inseparable. Within a few weeks of school starting, Kaleb informed me there was a kid in another class that must really be in love with Victoria. He was sure the kid was jealous of him and his friendship with her because he looked for every opportunity to beat Kaleb up. Apparently the kid (already sporting a red cast on his swinging arm) hadn’t landed one on Kaleb because of how clever Kaleb had been in escaping the attempted blows using his “Avatar” moves. He said it wasn’t so easy one time when the kid brought his friend (who had a black eye) along and they cornered him in the changing room. Victoria came to his rescue and he managed to escape without injury.




Kaleb told his teacher about these bullies a few times, but apparently the boys are well known as the school trouble makers (hence the black eye and broken arm) and all the teacher did was talk to them. Kaleb wasn’t the least bit upset in retelling the tale - he kind of had a glimmer in his eye and a smirk on his lips as he felt the whole thing was rather entertaining, but that’s of course, because no one had yet landed a punch. He lost the glimmer and smirk the day he actually got nailed. Ironically, it was on the day he brought home an “anti-bullying” contract from the principal that was sent home for all children and parents to sign. The contract clearly stated the school has ZERO tolerance for any kind of “mobbing” (bullying) or violence, but it failed to say what the consequences of such behavior would be. As it turned out, the worst possible punishment in Norwegian schools for violence is a stern “talking to,” so “mobbing” became a huge part of Kaleb’s life at school. One kid in Kaleb’s class, Morton, had an “impulse control problem,” and unfortunately, his impulses often landed on my sweet boy’s face. I’m sure having Morton and his pals sign a piece of paper is exactly what was needed to change their behavior.

(The photo is of Kaleb and his best friend, Toban.)