Texas Mom Teaches Her 'Bully' Son a Tough Lesson He Won't Forget
When a Texas mom found out that her 5th grade son was bullying classmates, she decided she needed to think outside the box with her parenting.
The mother — who asked to be identified only by her first name, Star — told KTRK in Houston that she learned her son was calling other boys “stupid” and “idiots.”
The mother realized she needed to teach her son a lesson. So last week, she had him wear a T-shirt to school that read, “I Am A Bully” with an unhappy face drawn on.
“I wanted to do something that would teach him why he can’t do those things, why he needs to take other people into consideration,” Star said.
Texas Mom Forces 5th Grade Son to Wear 'I Am a Bully' Shirt to School https://t.co/lBt6blYYTv
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“I’m a very old-school parent. I don’t coddle my children,” she added. “I don’t sugar-coat the world to them.”
She posted pictures of her son on Facebook as a way of letting parents of his classmates know that she was trying to teach him better behavior.
“I posted it to reach out to the parents of any of the kids my son may have bullied so that each one of them could get a personal apology,” Star said.
She said she did not post the pictures to embarrass her son, but she eventually deleted the post because it generated so much negative attention.
Despite the criticism, she stood by her choice.
“I wanted to know what he learned from it and he said, ‘I learned that I didn’t like the way that that felt and I don’t want anybody else to feel that way because of me,'” Star told KTRK. “That’s exactly what I wanted him to take from it.”
Despite the controversy, Greenleaf Elementary of Splendora ISD, where the boy attends school, supported her right to parent how she felt was right.
Star said she talked to her son’s counselor and his teachers, and they stood by her decision.
“They all were 100 percent on board,” Star said. “They understood why I was doing it and that, for my son, this is what works.”
Splendora ISD gave the following statement to KTRK:
“Parents have the rights to make important decisions and take certain actions on behalf of their child,” the school said. “This parent met with our counselor at Greenleaf Elementary School to discuss the student wearing the ‘I am a Bully’ T-shirt. The counselor, parent, and student met with all three of the student’s teachers prior to entering the classroom. The parent explained her rationale for the student wearing the shirt to the teachers and counselor.
“Ensuring a safe, physical, emotional, and social environment is one of Splendora ISD’s core principles. With that in mind, our counselor checked on the child throughout the day on Friday and plans to follow up with the student and the parent early this week.”
Star doesn’t feel that any follow-up is necessary.
“He’ll survive. And he’s already been treating his sisters better. He’s already been treating his cousins better,” she said. “He learned from it. That’s all that matters.”
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