(105) Bullies became friends

Recently I read that a fourteen year old boy was beaten by two school mates(both male) to death in a bus stop. According to the columnist who commented on the tragedy, it was a case of bullying carried to excess. The deceased was the only son of his parents, he was being picked on because "he walked funny".

This piece of news brought to mind Kenneth's(my eldest son) brush with two bullies when they were nine years old. At that age, Kenneth was over weight and rather shy. He came home complaining that his two classmates took his water bottle and forced him to run after them while they threw the container one to the other. I am normally optimistic, while not agreeing to giving him extra money for drinks( thus dispensing with bringing plain drinking water); I did allow him to start using a disposable mineral bottle.

A week later, they did the same with an exercise book that Kenneth had to hand up after recess. While I still thought positively that they were trying to rouse Kenneth to play with them, I set about preparing goodies for him to bring to school. I baked some scrumptious short bread and packed extra, encouraging Kenneth to share with his friends, including those two playful boys who gave him a hard time. Kenneth returned with an empty food container and told me that one of those boys took some pieces of short bread but the other refused. Other classmates finished the lot.

The next day, I took the trouble to drive out of my way to buy a loaf of delicious banana bread. I cut a third of it into bite size and packed them attractively into two disposable containers. My instruction was for Kenneth to eat from one while offering the other to the friend who enjoyed the short cake. At the end of the day, Kenneth came back reporting that his friend took the small container and persuaded the other to try one piece. Quite a few of his classmates came over to help them finish the rest.

Thereafter, I would either prepare or buy some goodies or others at least once a week and let Kenneth take more than he needed to school. In this case, those two boys became his friends eventually. For it is difficult to have children partake treats from another and continue to be mean to him. Many years have passed, Kenneth found out from Facebook that the boy who ate his short bread will be a qualified medical doctor next year.