Was I right to speak out?

Counting_Pennies_2

My DS age 10 was playing a game of football after school tonight in the playground.


It is a regular thing they all do every night, they always play so nicely.


Tonight though, I was watching and one of the boys in his class went up and stamped really hard on my DS' ankle. The type of tackle that would be on the tv for days talking about how illegal (in football terms) and dangerous the tackle was.


Anyway, it was my instinct to protect my son and also to set right the situation.


So I called out the boys name and said how I felt that was a very unacceptable thing to do. My son was in tears grabbing his ankle. The other boys were all crowded round my son checking he was ok.


There was no apology from this boy, he said my son had been doing the same to him. The boys around clarified that they had not seen my son doing it.


So I just replied that if my son did do it then I would like him to please let me know and not do it in retaliation.


I fear the son will go home and tell his mum I shouted at him.


So my question is do you think I was right to speak out, or was I being out of hand telling another child off?

lulu_92

I think you were right to speak out.

But then again, my dad once shouted at this kid once and the kid's mum rang the police.

Nothing came of it, the kid was a nightmare.

fivetide

I would. I believe do unto others. If it was mine that had done it he would be apologising to the other boy so I have no issue with taking another one to task over bad behaviour.


Turning a blind eye to things generally makes them worse.

harrys_nan

I most definitely would have spoken out, cant stand bullies. If you cant look after your son, who can?

ripplyuk

I also think you did the right thing. In fact, I think it would be unusual for someone to see their child being hurt and not say anything. Of course kids can sometimes play rough, especially boys, but your son was in tears, and that's going too far. He could have been injured. I don't think the boy in question will tell his mum, because there's a good chance she'll not be happy with him for what he did. If he does, and she's a reasonable parent, then just talk to her about it and mention that you've spoke to your son as well about what is appropriate. If she's a nutter, probably best to just avoid her and her offspring.

Hope your son's ankle is ok.

FredG

I think you were very diplomatic. I'd have placed the child in a bin.

rach_k

If my child did that to another when I wasn't there, I'd be happy with the way you dealt with it. I'd have an issue if you'd screamed and shouted but a firm reminder of what's acceptable would be fine, in fact I'd rather you did that than ignore it.

FBaby

would have done just the same. As long as you don't shout of make threats, surely it is totally acceptable to challenge a child's aggressive behaviour.

squiggles

If it was my son who stamped on your child's ankle, I would be pleased you shouted at him and I would actually thank you for doing so.

supermassive

This is a sign of the namby pamby society we live in these days. Utterly ridiculous. I would've slapped the little runt. Then I would've stomped on his parents' ankles if they defended the little piece of excrement.

Kids these days don't understand their place in the chain of command.

Sorry if that seems a bit "OTT" or "Vile" or whatever to some cotton-wool-clan, but the honest truth is that the only way to stop little tearaways being a nuisance is to make them fearful of consequence. Ie: "If I hit him, his brother's going to wallop me" which then translates when they're older to "if I break the law, the police will get me" or something to that effect.

I suspect there are certain people in the world that would've cuddled the child (in a supervised space, obviously) and asked him why he was behaving in such a way, and if there was anything they could do to help him.

Edit: I don't really mean to come across as Katie Hopkins.

engineer_amy

supermassive wrote: »

This is a sign of the namby pamby society we live in these days. Utterly ridiculous. I would've slapped the little runt. Then I would've stomped on his parents' ankles if they defended the little piece of excrement.

Kids these days don't understand their place in the chain of command.

Sorry if that seems a bit "OTT" or "Vile" or whatever to some cotton-wool-clan, but the honest truth is that the only way to stop little tearaways being a nuisance is to make them fearful of consequence. Ie: "If I hit him, his brother's going to wallop me" which then translates when they're older to "if I break the law, the police will get me" or something to that effect.

I suspect there are certain people in the world that would've cuddled the child (in a supervised space, obviously) and asked him why he was behaving in such a way, and if there was anything they could do to help him.

Edit: I don't really mean to come across as Katie Hopkins.

Nothing wrong with a bit of discipline! it wasn't all that long ago that I was threatened with the slipper or the belt - Wait until your father gets home etc... Soon enough the fear of getting walloped kept me in check. too many kids now have never had any sort of firm hand.