My son complains about being called silly in school

[Supermum822]

My son is very annoyed about his friends calling him silly in school. What should I do about it?

Stop being silly perhaps?

Was he being silly?

Does he do cartwheels?

Why did they call him silly? Was he being silly? How old is he?

Apologies, backflips.

How old is he?

I would say something like well I think you've got green hair, get him to look in the mirror and say hold on a minute you don't have green hair because no matter what people say to you it doesn't make it true.
Encourage him to talk about how he would describe himself and explain that all that matters is how he feels about himself.

I would also try to explain that probably they don't mean it to hurt him.

Might also tell him that he doesn't have to play with the ones calling him silly if he doesn't want to.

My reply was assuming he's 4 to say 8 years. Apologies if he's older.

How old is he and why do they call him silly?

Agree context here is the key.

If our children's behaviour was silly and annoying we'd pull them up on it and explain.

I have no issue with peers doing the same thing and it can be effective.

However sometimes it's not done for a reason other than to be nasty and it isn't in context and in this case I'd be dealing with it differently.

Age is also a factor here so we do need that information!

Again without his age its hard to guage? Does he say why they say hes silly?

Lovely thread. Bullying topic, child upset about a name, clearly his fault.

If a child is fooling around and being silly, then his peers telling him so is not always going to be bullying.

'Silly' isn't a name if he's being silly. It's just a descriptor.

Being called silly isn't always bullying it depends on the context which we haven't been given. Which is why people are asking for the context before they can help.

Age? Additional needs? Is he in fact being silly?
Your post has no detail to ascertain whether this is bullying or kids not wanting to play with the class clown/disruptive one.

Has he told you why they think he is silly? If it's something obvious like putting on voices/faces etc for laughs then there's an obvious explanation otherwise Reassure he he's fine as he is and maybe speak to teacher, encourage him to spend time with other children.

For the record I was called dizzy and dumb at school. I'm actually autistic and have a habit of spacing out. I also do not get social rules. I am smart but did not work well at school as I struggled to concentrate. The treatment from my peers was very hurtful and affected my confidence hugely. Definitely don't dismiss it.

Silly is a descriptive word for his behaviour.

If he is acting a fool and that is an appropriate description then he should reflect on that.

As above it depends how old he is and why they are saying it. Is he being excluded or anything else? You need more info before you can give him advice. It could be learning to moderate his own behaviour and have some empathy for how he affects others or it could be the tip of the iceberg and he is a actually being bullied.

What age? What kind of silly? In year 8 many children think other children re silly, some find others babyish. You need to give more details.

Silly is a descriptive word for his behaviour.

This. It isn’t bullying; it’s people telling him that they aren’t impressed with what he is doing. Try to talk to him about what he’s doing and when he gets that feedback and why?

Is he silly

Is he often silly at school?

If he's called Billy and he's being called Silly Billy instead of just Billy, then I'd raise it with the teacher and expect it to stop. If he's being called silly because he's sometimes silly, maybe advise him not to be so silly?