What do people tell their teens about negative comments in high school?

[NCScout]

DS 13 has just started in year 7 (not UK), he’s an only child and also went to a very small primary school and although he has settled in really well and is generally enjoying HS he has experienced quite a few mean or negative comments from the other boys. In just one term he been messaged that he is a teachers pet and should give up on life, told he is shit at rugby, he’s been randomly jumped and punched (not hurt though), another boy has mimicked him by repeating back what he says on a few (a dozen or so) occasions and another made a tick tok video about his name which was viewed and commented on by lots of year 7.

Is this just par for the course or is he just unlucky ? He’s quite outgoing, friendly and despite all this he says he feels he is liked.

I seem to be saying in repeat that there are a lot of dickheads in the world and even when you are an adult you still meet them and that he needs to choose his friends wisely. To ignore negative people, who I think are usually unhappy in themselves. Today we saw one teen aged 15 call his dad a ret**d and I commented that if they can speak to their parents that way they sure can be even ruder to other kids. I’ve also said it is not just him and that it’s happening to other kids as well.

What do other people tell their DC? I’m hoping that as they mature they grow out of it a bit or am I just clutching at straws…

Not our experience with a boys school (in the UK). That is bullying and is not acceptable in my view.

Definitely sounds like bullying to me there seems to be a pattern with youngsters wanting to disrupt the class acting the fool in front of their peers trying to get a rise out of the teachers I would nip it in the bud before it escalates

This is why teaching resilience is important. I used to give mine retorts to respond to these things. But telling someone to give up on life is extreme. I’d report that.

Y7 and Y8 are awful ime, especially for girls. They become more human in Y9 and are general much more normal by Y10.

I was coming on to say that if DD says that someone's said something mean, I always ask her if she values the opinion of the person? Is it someone she'd ask for advice/their view - usually she says 'no' so I ask why, if they're not someone you'd turn to for advice/their view, she'd care what they think when they say something mean. But what you've written sounds worse than negative comments. I generally let my DD get on with stuff, but if someone is making tik toks about your son I'd be inclined to contact the school. That said, it is difficult - I think sometimes kids target other kids that they know they get a reaction from, so maybe him appearing indifferent might help. They do sound like dickheads.

Took my daughter out of school when it began to impact her mental health