In some places, like where I live, it feels like "jungle law" is close to the reality. It starts here with most boys being held back a year for sports. My relative with a young son who will be old enough and academically more than ready for pre-K is being told she should hold him back so I felt I needed to tell her about our experience with kindergarten. My husband and I refused to hold our son back. In his musical theater class the new kids that saw him read at age 4 would ask him what grade he was in because they saw that he was able to read his Alice in Wonderland script for musical theater practice. It had to be at least 5th grade level. He was the youngest in the group at that time but he could read very well, follow directions, and he just fit in really well with the older kids. His friends were all several years older. I just could not see that it would be a good idea to hold him back.
When the doctor at his 4 year old checkup saw him read he said he should do really well in school. I didn't think there would be any problems, but there were.
The boys who had been held back were a year or a year and a half older. They were much bigger than my son who was five with a May birthday. Two of them physically threatened him whenever the teacher wasn't looking, so he stayed close to the teacher. He didn't mind, because he loved talking to her about the things he was learning about at home. He already knew how to read but he did learn some new vocabulary at that school. He learned what nerd and geek meant in kindergarten. It was only the bullies that called him those names. The other kids liked him. So even though it was only two boys who did most of the bullying and I guess that wasn't really an epidemic, those two bullies made his kindergarten year more difficult. The bullying is what he remembers most vividly from that year.
My son does not want anyone to try to prevent free speech even though it looks to us like the physical bullying often starts with the verbal bullying. He just wants to know that he has that same right to free speech to defend himself or others whether it is kids or adults who are verbally abusing someone. I have told him that he has my permission to say what he wants to say even if it is an adult or teacher or preacher and even if it is a relative. I know that the kids in our school don't really have this right and some of teachers here do verbally bully students who are different. I am glad my son doesn't have to deal with this in addition to the pain he feels from his brace. I don't think we should stay silent about what is happening here any longer. I am willing to risk being shunned.
Last edited by Lori H.; 04/09/12 11:30 AM.
