How to protect 5 y/o from bulling in school?

[regretnot]

My DC in reception and this particular kid has had it in for him since he started.. the other kid came up from the nursery and we started in September..

they play together occasionally but it’s clear the power dynamic is not healthy.. he leads my son into things and doesn’t let him have any turns.. takes advantage of his kindness and openness..

we arranged a play date as DC said he wanted him over.. good for us to see the dynamic for ourselves m..

he dominated, taking/snatching, running about, parents totally blase..

he proceeded to take my DC shoe off run away and hit him hard, my DC hit him back and kicked him,, we jumped in and broke it up.. the boy clearly has behaviour problems..

we have never seen the dynamics like this before so good to know.. my DC then burst into tears.. he's in school with this kid, same class for a short more few weeks..

son seems quite upset and quiet ..

I've alerted teacher before when he hit my son at school.. they never told me.. my son did!!

shall I ask them outright whether he is bullying my son?

I’ve spoken with DC and asked to steer clear of this kid.. hard at age 5 though! He did understand

any advice / tips???

Bullying is described as persistent behaviour, so keep a log of incidents your child tells/has told you about and raise with the school every time, being specific about the incident in questions rather than talking about bullying in general. Encourage your child to tell the teacher too if anyone is unkind to him, and also encourage him to play with other children.

@Ioverslept thank you

Definitely agree with encouraging your DC to play with other kids if possible - do you know any of the other parents that you could set up a play date with to encourage other friendships?

Also think it’s a good idea to talk to the teacher again, tell them that your DC is getting quieter and you’re worried. You could ask them to watch out as you’re worried that hitting wasn’t a one off and there might be other things going on. Hopefully then they’ll check in with your DC. But agree with also telling DC to go the teacher or whichever other grown up is there (in case it’s lunchtime or something) if something happens which upsets them.

When my DC was having issues at school and I asked if he’d told the teacher what had happened he said no as the boys had told him not to - eg they broke his stuff, he said I’m going to tell the teacher, they said no don’t do that and blocked his path… I explained to him that he doesn’t need to tell the other kids he’s going to speak to the teacher, he should just leave and go and find them.

Will they mix classes next year? Could you ask the teacher to influence whether they’re together next year?