Hooligan

None of us wants our child to be the one hurt on the school playground. On the same note, we also don't want our child to be the one hurting another kid. Which is worse? Having physical pain inflicted on your son or daughter and feeling indignation on behalf of your child? Or the embarrassment, mortification, and doling out punishment when your own child is the bully?

I'd have to say the latter is worse. And yes, it's from recent personal experience.

Every time our phone rings and I see "Town of Millbury" on the Caller ID, I get nervous. Calls from the school show up that way. With all of Dominic's allergies, I dread calls from the school, always wondering if today is the day I'm going to get the call saying his Epi-Pen was needed, they called the ambulance, or worse. Fortunately, the school administration usually start the conversation with "This is so-and-so from the school - Dominic's okay..." before they launch into the reason for calling.

One of the dreaded "Town of Millbury" calls came today around 3:00 pm. The guidance counselor from the school introduced himself, let me know that Dominic was okay, but that there was an "incident" at recess. I immediately figured he fell and got hurt or maybe another child hurt him. Boy, was I ever wrong. Apparently, Dominic decided to throw a rock at recess. Apparently, his friend Aidan was standing in front of him. And apparently, the rock struck Aidan in the forehead and made him bleed.

I think I'll just crawl into a hole with my hooligan child, thank you very much.

Dominic spent the rest of recess and all of lunch in the Vice Principal's office (whom I despise - if you look up "bitchy" in the dictionary, her picture should be there). Tomorrow he will spend recess with the guidance counselor so they can have a little talk. I believe that's entirely appropriate - he needs to have some consequences for his actions and hopefully will feel bad enough about it to never do it again.

Now, the rock throwing wasn't meant maliciously - even the school administration told me that. Dominic wasn't aiming for his friend or trying to hit anyone. He merely wanted to throw the rock but unfortunately he doesn't have the best aim and his throws tend to end up anywhere and everywhere - this time at his friend's forehead. Even so, I want him to realize that throwing rocks is not appropriate, especially in a crowded playground! Here at home, he isn't allowed to play with his friends/neighbors or have any screen time (TV, computer, Wii) for a week, which is basically until Chris and I leave for Rome next Tuesday.

And as if it isn't bad enough that it was my child who was the thrower, I also found out how big the rock was...

The size of a small orange.

*sigh*