Should I be worried?

[funkygibbon71]

Well, I obviously am, as I'm writing this and can't focus on 'proper work', but would welcome other parents' views.

DS (year 2 but a late-summer baby) is having problems with a girl in his class. They sit next to each other, and she's constantly having digs at him, his parents, hiding his pencils/sharpeners.......all relatively 'small stuff' but it's beginning to have a cumulative affect.

DW and I raised it at parents evening 2 weeks ago and were told that the children would be moved around. A move apparently happened, but they're still next to each other. Yesterday, he told me that he put her name in the class' "Worry Box."

Allied to this is the fact that he seems to have a problem making (male) friends. He's never been a rough-play boy, and doesn't like sport, and it seems that a lot of the girls in his class now want to go off and do their things and the boys don't want him to play in their games.

With the exception of the girl in his class, he tells us he's perfectly happy and he seems confident....so is this me over-reacting and things will resolve themselves, or is there something else that I/we should do or could do to help?

Nope, I don't think you're over-reacting at all. I am really frustrated for both of you. I am surprised this girl is bothering to taunt your son, because, as a general rule of thumb girls tend to bully to DEFEND (yes, in their warped minds) their own popularity/ friendships / status rather than to work their way to achieving popularity by being openly aggressive - which is more of a male tactic. I'm wondering why a girl like that would see your son as a threat.. Not his fault at all, of course. She must be a bit unhinged.

I would do what you can to find out more about this girl as once you can see what is making her tick it'll be more obvious what is going on. In the meantime, I would try and help boost your son's own self-confidence in whatever way you can - seeing a cousin or friend that he gets on well with; doing an activity that he's already good at ; doing an out-of-hours club to meet kids from other classes / schools etc. There is nothing wrong with your boy from the sounds of him, so don't feel that it's in any way your or his fault. He is just unlucky this time. This other kid has serious issues that need to be nipped in the bud.

I really empathise with you right now as my own dd was picked on for the first time yesterday by the maniac in her class! (She reckons it's because the other popular person that girl used to tease, has gone abroad.)This kid has an 'inconsistant' personality and has a gang that are terrified of her by all accounts and her 'best' friend has a secret best friend in another class - but they only see each other out of school. My dd, on the other hand, is pretty confident and stood up to her and refused to use underhand tactics (although I wouldn't have blamed her for telling this child some home truths).