My 12 year old was attacked by another 12 year old

[MamaMaiasaura]

My ds and this other boy fell out today. This boy and his sidekick frequently are nasty to my ds. Today my ds stood up to them verbally and nasty things were said to eachother. Resulted in the other boy wanting my ds to fight him on the field. My ds said no. When he was walking home, this boy attacked him, got him in headlock and punched him in neck and tried to knee him in the face. Ds said wasn't actually hurt and the other boy didn't punch him hard (tho not for trying). Ds didn't retaliate as he was shaking from adrenaline, shock, fear and anger.

I have already called school and hope they'll do something in the morning, however I am worried that ds will now be seen as fair game and all the bullies will have a go. Don't know what to do :(

Bump

I'd send my boy to Judo classes.
I hope the school can give you some satisfaction.

Hi Mama, How does your son feel about going to school today?

He was fine going today thanks. He is able to defend himself (he's front row rugby player). Apparently there were about 15 kids watching. School phoned this morning and have promised to deal with it. I'm worried that bullies will see ds as a target now tho .

Perhaps judo might be a good idea as may help him deal with the adrenaline surge for fight or flight. If he'd fought back I wonder if the other kids would've piled in

I think martial arts are most useful for teaching kids how to repel aggression without having to actually fight. Good for confidence and impulse control.

My sister survived as an out lesbian in a fairly rough state school (where I frequently got the shit kicked out of me until fought back very aggressively ) and unlike me she never had to fight or retaliate to physical aggression. She was very, very good at karate and I think it gave her a "don't fuck with me or I will break your neck in one of three different ways depending on my mood" vibe that bullies could pick up on (and were scared shitless of) and also had a cracking selection of verbal put-downs.

He sent me a text as he's getting a lot of stick at school today

:(
If he did a good job standing up for himself he won't see as an easy target by others.
Who is giving him stick today?

That said, a good martial art club is 95% defence and a lot of it is about keeping your cool and not letting nasty people upset you.

He didn't do a good job of standing up or himself :-( poor boy

He's home. Has had a lot of goading from the year above but his mates have supported him.

That's something at least. One of the worst things that ever happened to me was getting started on by a psycho horrible cow at the bus stop whilst about ten of my so called friends pretended not to notice. Having support makes a massive difference.

Have you spoken to the school at all? Do they have any sort of meaningful policy in place?