Son and mates played another match today. It was an 'away' game at a school unfamiliar to us parents so most of the boys were bussed back to school.
It was a dismal day, weather-wise. They lost all the games. But surprisingly my son was chirpy. He seemed to have enjoyed the match even though they hadn't won.
It was a very positive spirit and I congratulated him on that.
What disturbed me was his accounts of how a classmate has 'threatened' him with words like, "I will take you to the park and whack you hard," etc. There was talk of blood and all that. This classmate also demanded to have all the money from my son's piggy bank if my son does not want him at our house before his best friend gets there.
Huh? Pardon?
It was not even that my son was being bullied. He didn't let any of this bother him, he claimed. But I was very disturbed that a fellow seven-year-old could use such language and think such violent thoughts. Clearly there was no way he was going to carry this out, but still ....
My son said that his classmate was probably feeling (and he acted this out: a crying baby). This other young man was probably a little jealous of someone else being invited to our house, and not him.
"But you can't get people to become your friend by threatening them," I said.
My son was not even bothered. He seemed to have learned to stick up for himself. Good for him.
But the big question is: do I approach the parent of this other boy to alert him of these thoughts that are being expressed by his son?
The other news is son has got his first 'Blue Card'. The school has a system of rewarding good effort, results, behaviour, etc with points for the House. They earn a House point here, and a House point there, and at the end of every term, the biggest cheer at end-of-term assembly is for the winning House.
My son is an avid earner of House points. The Blue Card is worth a whole dix points. Today he and his best friend were awarded the first Blue Cards for the Form for their ability in speaking French. These cards have then to be validated by the Headmaster.
Son is looking forward to seeing the Headmaster soon to show him the Carte Bleue and to demonstrate his fluency in saying:
Good morning, Mr B.
[Mr B answers.] How are you?
I am fine, thank you. And you?
[Mr B to answer.]
My name is ----. I am seven years old. I live in ------ in England. The name of my school is ---- ----. Etc, etc.
Can't wait to hear what he has to say about this experience.
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