My 10 year old bullies my 6 year old DC

[Needspace21]

It breaks my heart and makes me so angry.
He trips him up, calls him names and talks harshly to him. They are both boys. It makes me hate the older one to be honest. I am very disappointed in his behaviour and the more he acts like this, the less I want to interact with him, so it's a viscous cycle. What can I do. I'm a single parent with very little help or support. My little ds also hates school. So I do worry for him. Weekends are relentless.

Hi OP, mine are a bit younger but I didn’t want to leave this unanswered. I think what you say about it being a vicious cycle probably hits the nail on the head. Could you set up a play date or something for your younger DS so that you can spend some time focusing on the older one? Often kids take it out on their siblings when they feel they’re not as loved as them. I totally get it that our tendency is often to defend the youngest, especially if your little boy is also having problems at school… you will be in ‘mother bear’ mode, but it sounds like your older boy has sadnesses of his own and he’s taking it out on his brother.