Maybe it’s not the same for girls, but this is one of the best things about public school. Preparing your child to ward off bullies or to win fights is depriving them of one of life’s great lessons …getting your ass kicked. I still keep a picture on my phone of my son the day I had to go collect him at the principal’s office about two years ago, black eye, bloody nose, priceless. During the car ride home, I let him talk about how he tried to negotiate, told his challenger he didn’t want to fight, then got sucker punched as he turned to walk away. His church going grandma had told him about turning the other cheek and now it was time for his dad to talk about how theory and reality didn’t always align themselves. Then we had a moment when i said that I was about 16, just like he was when I got my ass kicked in school and that the bloody nose I still get when the weather changes abruptly or when we fly, is a reminder of that day. I was able to tell him that this will not be the last time, but over time, he will learn to anticipate things and one day he will stop losing fights. His one good eye lit up. We had a priceless father/son moment, he hasn’t lost a fight since, he doesn’t start them, but he learned to end them.
FLU, it’s only kindergarten, but don’t shelter them too much, the only way to learn to defend themselves is to lose a few times. Olympic ski jumpers can only land those jumps because they crashed as they were learning. Teaching them martial arts or boxing only makes them too brave for their own good, losing a few fights teaches them humility as well as technique. Same goes for the verbal bashing, losing a few early rounds has it’s benefits, always winning makes them little assholes.
Wipe of the blood, tell them you love them and send them right back out out there, repeat as necessary, eventually they figure it out.
