Colby snuck a tooth out Saturday night while we were watching “World War Z.” Twelve hours later, his heart was broken.
Thankfully the Tooth Fairy is in to the digital age, and sent a text explaining that it wasn’t her fault. And she made good on that tooth Sunday night… plus interest.
Our son has become the target of a school bully.
We noticed his behavior change immediately. A child that was usually relaxed and happy had become anxious, sad and irritable. He would spend his free time just sitting and staring at the television, not absorbing what he was seeing. The things that generally made him happy, like playing football with his friends or spending time with the X-box, were no longer interesting him. He laid in the bed for hours, just staring at the wall.
First we assumed he was nervous over the start of another school year, as his demeanor seemed to change on the first day. Then we decided it was likely his age – 13 now, and dealing with the weight of a teenage world. I started to suffer with him, both of us eaten away by something only one of us knew. I spent hours worrying about him, trying to find any and all reasons he could be so sad so suddenly. But seeing as how he’s always been a well-liked child at school, it never occurred to us that he was dealing with bullying on such a level that he couldn’t function normally anymore. After all, we had talked with our children about this before, and they knew to come and talk to us anytime they were dealing with another student in such a way. They had been told they could tell a teacher, as their teachers are there to help them.
How were we to know the teacher would be the bully?
Bryce – 8th Grade | Brittany – 6th Grade | Colby – 3rd Grade | Riley – 1st Grade.
When I was in middle/high school, we would pick up the phone book, search for listings called “children’s line,” and then dial but pretend to have the wrong number in hopes a “cute-sounding” boy picked up.
I’m sad my daughter will never know what that means. Or, for that matter, a phone book.
It was a trip to the grocery store – the kind that generally makes me sick with anxiety before I ever even walk through the door. Grocery shopping for a family of six is about as much fun as a root canal, but shopping with those family members can cause temporary insanity. Today it was just Colby and myself, out to enjoy what he called some well-earned “Mommy and Me Time.”
We were heading for the shredded cheese when I saw him. He was an elderly man in a motorized cart, sitting with his head in his hands as if he had been struck by the world’s worst migraine while in the dairy section. I stopped for a moment and watched him to make sure he wasn’t just taking a break or waiting for a family member to join him. I looked around; no one seemed alarmed. Many looked his direction while they browsed through the bacon and lunch meat, but they turned and went the other way as if the bread aisle would be empty if they didn’t get there immediately. And still he sat, head in his hands, seeming lost.
The Mom Spot 