Bullies

Porter was beaten up walking home from school on Thursday. He is okay- no blood or bruises or anything like that. What happened was a 4th grader had been calling him names and Porter started returning the favor. The bigger kid didn't like that and ran across the street and tackled him. Porter said at some point his foot hit the kid in the face and the next thing he knew, he was being punched in the side of the head.

When the kids first told me, I was seeing red. The tough thing was, no one knew who this kid was, so we didn't know how to resolve the issue. Then a little boy, who I think is sweet on Maeg, showed up at our house and said he knew who the kid was. Maegan talked him into telling on the boy's mom and off he went. I had talked to Porter by this point and was thinking about letting the whole thing drop when a knock came on the door. It was the 4th grader coming to say he was sorry. To tell the truth- he looked like a good kid. He had come on his own, with no mom making him, and he was almost in tears the whole time. It actually took me a long time to get Porter to come to the door and say he was sorry for his part in the whole thing. I felt good how it all turned out.

Porter has faced bullies before on the playground at school. When I ask him if he is standing up to the bullies and not letting himself be pushed around he says 'Mom, we are supposed to be nice to others.' How do you fight with that? Porter is such a good hearted kid. He tries to include everyone when they are playing and is usually the first one to make sure the littler kids are included and that everyone is having a good time. So how does he find the balance between that and self preservation?