Yes, you read that correctly. Brandon came home from school this afternoon, dropped his backpack in the floor and said quite frankly, "I have dentention."
"What??????" I shrieked. "What did you do?"
"I punched a kid in the nose." he answered plainly.
I demanded to know exactly what happened and he explained rather calmly (as though he were talking about any old everyday occurance) that another little boy, Tyler, had shoved him during P.E. and so he punched him in return. Great. I called the school immediately to see who I could speak with about the incident to try to get a clearer picture of what happend (not that I don't trust my son, but I know that sometimes kids aren't totally forthcomming with the details). I spoke with the vice principle who wasn't entirely sure of the details and only knew that Brandon and Tyler had gotten into a disagreement during a basketball game in P.E. which resulted in Tyler pushing Brandon and Brandon responding by punching him in the nose. She went on to say that she was surpised as she'd never had any trouble with Brandon in the past and that he would only have to serve recess detention most likely and not after school detention. I thanked her for her time and hung up. I then called Albert to tell him the news. He started laughing and said "Put him on the phone."
We teach our kids that we never want to hear about them starting a fight or being the first one to throw a punch but that if someone gets physical with them, they are totally allowed to defend themselves. So he isn't really in trouble. We just made sure he knows that it's never okay to hit first no matter what, and that if he choses to hit back after someone pushes or hits him, that's okay with us but he needs to know that its most likely NOT okay with the school and that missing recess will be the result.
I'm not sure I've ever encountered a child quite like Brandon. He's so cool and collected about the whole ordeal. He just simply says "yeah, I punched him in the nose. I told him to stop pushing me." I guess Brandon handled his business. As Albert said, "I bet the kid stopped pushing him."
Stalked by the Stork...a diary of raising twelve kids
Thursday, March 6, 2008
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5 comments:
Brandon is so matter of the fact, its hilarious. I completely agree with the policy of don't hurt someone first but if they are going after you than you can fight back, its what my mama taught me.
So did the other kid get "dentention" too? Seems only fair! So is this the "socialization" my kids "missed out on" by mostly being homeschooled?
Yeap that is life, and DENTENTION sucks, but he sure sounds like he can handle his own problems!
Sounds about right! Good for Brandon for sticking up for himself. We feel the same way. It is never ok to start the fight, but certainly ok to defend themselves. (but we always warn to be prepared to deal with the end result too.) Sounds like Brandon handled it like he handles everything else- so calm.
Gotta love Brandon's frankness about the whole situation :). We have the same golden rule in our house, defend yourself, but don't start it.
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