Now the physical aspects are a different thing altogether. The bigger boys definitely used their size and physical prowess to their advantage. The younger kids were often weights they used to lift to impress the other older kids. Younger kids were easily chased down, etc. The older kids tormented the younger ones if they could - lots of experimentation here. Real bullying had not set in just yet, but you could tell who would be the source of the problems within the next year or so .
I'm sorry, this description made me sad. I realize that it is just your experience in your child's school, but as the parent of a not red-shirted gifted older child (he turned 6 two weeks after starting Kinder, now in 4th) who was also tall and big for his age, I have found these stereotypes about big kids to be very frustrating. I spend much of his early childhood years explaining to him that, yes it is completely unfair that the smaller kids can push and harass you as much as they want but if you retaliate or defend yourself in anyway, they will immediately tattle and YOU will be the one to get in trouble not them. In our experience, the smaller kids were the instigators not victims, but then played the victim role to get out of or someone else into trouble. Eventually, I learned that I needed to tell the teacher immediately when he told me kids were hassling him because I could not trust the school staff to recognize the real situation. They always saw him as the aggressor because he was bigger. For my son with his keen sense of justice this was a really hard time. Especially since he has never, not once, instigated a physical conflict with another kid at school.
I understand that you are talking about specific children, but it comes across a bit generalized. And I am admittedly quite sensitive on this topic. I just wanted to share a different perspective. I am sure that there are quite a few red-shirted, big kids who have experienced this as well.
