Bullying?

[KBecks]

This is an interesting subject, an onliner that I've been acquainted with for years had her son bullied and abused by other students in his M classroom. No one knew, and b/c the teacher wasn't always looking, a child would hurt her son when the attention was elsewhere.

I see how it could happen in the M setup and think it's a valid concern. What have you heard about bullying within the M environment and what kinds of teacher training or prevention would you expect?

[GuildJenn]

My son is a toddler but he experienced some "bullying" (in quotes because these were other toddlers ) at his school - fairly consistent shoving, when the teacher was preparing snack (each toddler brings snack once a week and prepares it with the teacher solo).

We brought it up with the school and they responded really effectively in my opinion - not only did they talk to the students and parents, but they also re-started teaching the kids something they had tried a year or so ago but which had dropped by the wayside which is to teach the kids to say very loudly "Please don't push/pull/whatever me!" - not only empowering the student, but also giving the teacher the cue.

This has worked well with my son, as far as we can tell; he now puts his hand up to his father and I and says "No put my boots on!" very assertively in the mornings.

What I liked most about the school's response was that they did respond, not just by talking about shoving, etc., but by giving the children the tools for how to respond. Although I have to confess that it was one of those "bah my child is too young to be dealing with this" moments for me.