When I was young, there were very few incidents of bullying compared to now. After an unexpected loss in a middle school football game, the ride home was exceptionally quiet. My son is known to be the most happy go lucky person in previous years regardless of wins or losses.
This morning on the ride to school, he said that kids are calling him names on his team and everyone will blame him for the loss due to his leadership position on the team. He gave me examples and asked me to promise that I would not tell anyone. I told him that this is "trash talk" and that it is considered bullying, especially when one person starts it and everyone follows suit.
I went ahead and asked that the topic of respecting other teammates be addressed to the entire team. What was unfortunate is that the head coach attempted to guess the kid and ended up trying to guess several names which indicate that he knew of the problem.
Luckily, my son's coach has a reputation of being very tough so he was the ideal choice in addressing these youngsters. The coaches complimented my son on his strong athletic skills and even thought of additional positions in addition to the other ones that he excels in. Another coach told him to let the comments roll off his back.
We need to adopt a zero tolerance policy of bullying PERIOD! If we see it happening, we need to step in each and every single incidence. I wonder why bullying has become systemic in our culture. It is something that needs to be addressed head on with authority and immediate consequences.
My son says that the kid who started bullying him knows that it was him reporting it. I responded by saying that this is this the first step and if it continues one more time to let me know and I will make sure that kid will be removed from the team. This was greeted with, "I love you mom!"
I also pointed out that many others kids felt the same way and my son responded, "I guess they can thank me" for being courageous in stepping up.