The Demonic Ape

[TassieKiwi]

That's the thing Silent. Max is also very tall for his age, which does work against him, especially as he has a very sensitive nature. One of the mothers said 'you've got to let them sort it out'. Not when it's 10 to one I don't. She has a particularly clingy babyish 3 1/2 yr old boy. I'm sure she'd think differently if it was her boy out there getting stomped.

I remember being bullied, and I wish my dad was around to sort it, at the time. Come to think of it I never told anyone - somehow there is an instinct to not let on that you've been humiliated. Shame?

I only wish I could go back 24 hrs and stop it happening at all. You can't watch them 24/7 though, bugger it.

[silentC]

It's usually one kid that's the ring leader and the rest just follow along. The classic bully is really a coward and if you stand up to them, they just fold. It's amazing then how quickly the rest of the gang disappears. It's a bit of a mob mentality. Kids who quite happily play together suddenly turn on each other when another kid comes along with something nasty in mind.

Of course all of that is fine and well unless you are 5 years old and being hassled by a bunch of bigger kids.

My Dad's advice to me was to fight fire with fire. When he was a kid, the school bully and his cohorts used to wait for him at the school gates and then tease him. The old man got fed up with this and one day he grabbed the guy by the arm, twisted him around and threw him over his shoulder. He never got picked on again.

I preferred a more subtle approach when I was at school but there was one kid who used to give me grief all the time. We fell to blows but it was broken up by a teacher before any resolution was reached. After that, we had an uneasy sort of friendship. Another guy who I had a similar scuffle with became my best mate.

I think the worst thing you can do is over-protect your kids but there's obviously going to be times when you have to wade in like you did.

[TassieKiwi]

Yes - I have my suspicions of who was the instigator, but I wasn't sure enough to really point the finger. Probably just as well, as I was angry enough. We also have a rule that if you don't actually witness the act, you can't really blame the individual - mainly as my daughter is an excellent fibber.

I too had those 'have a fight and then be mates later' experiences, which did puzzle me at the time. One of them was identical to your dad's, with a wonderful karate flip over my shoulder of a much bigger boy. Surprised even me, and felt wonderful. We were mates for years. Maybe Derek could enlighten us on something other than LA smoothers.