I started feeling sick so I left work around 2pm to go home to rest. As I was shutting my eyes... the phone rings. I thought about not picking it up because I saw the number was from the office. Should I? .... yeah I really should.
"Hey Kanika, Reese's after school program just called, he has a major nosebleed, some playground accident or something"Ok... I'm around the corner from his school since I was home. I threw on some non-pajama clothes real quick and bolted right over. In the mean time, my headache is still pounding out of my forehead and my eyes are completely bugged out. C'mon, Advil Cold & Sinus... start working... anytime now.
I get to the school and headed right over to the YMCA room. 2 new staff members greeted me with "Are you Reese's mom?". Where are the regular staff members? Oh, they are out with the flu today. Normally, Veronica and Andres know us and they know who should play with whom... but ok whatever. Where's my son?
They escorted me out to the playground... in the meantime Susan, the acting YMCA manager is telling me "Oh, Reese was so brave, he did really good under the circumstances".
WHAT??? what happened???
I see a pool of blood on the playground floor and a trail of blood leading from the playground to the boys restroom. He's in there, I can hear him crying. Another male YMCA staff member calls for him from the door. Reese comes out with another staff member who was trying to console him and cleaning him.
I can't even begin to tell you the rage that came over me when I saw my son step out of that restroom with a wad of blood soaked papertowel over his face. He is crying so hard his eyes are swollen. He tells me that his head hurts and he doesn't want a black eye. At this point I'm still not clear as to what happened.
A minute later, a YMCA staff member (who's a regular) comes to me to tell me that this kid Anthony pushed Reese and he fell and hit his head on the concrete part of the playground. Reese, on the other hand, tells a different story. HE tells me that Anthony picked him up by his jacket, swung him around and when he let go, he landed on the concrete head first. His nose started to bleed instantly and his head was scraped up pretty good.
Side note: We sit down and have dinner as a family everynight. And whenever Reese gets hurt, this Anthony kid's name comes up. Reese seems to always be on the receiving end of his rage. Maybe he's not the only kid, but why does it have to be MY kid?
Ok, WHERE is this Anthony kid?
The YMCA staff who was assisting Reese calls Anthony over to us. Little cocky kid. He said "What?"
.... excuse me?
I crouched down to his level and began to tell him things that I shouldn't have said at the time. There was no filter between my brain and my mouth at that moment in time. Today as I sit here writing this, I can't believe I had said the things that I said to this kid. I think I almost threatened him. Maybe I did. I was on fire. You would be too.
Another YMCA staff member saw what was happening and told me this was inappropriate that I was doing and removed Anthony form the scene. What I'm doing is inappropriate? What he did to my kid was way out of line. YOU need to handle it properly. If not, I will. I told her she needs to call his mother and I will sit in the room and wait for her to come. I want to have a word with her.
Reese, a staff member, and myself then walked into the room where some of the older kids were doing homework. Of course, this was a huge comotion and all the kids wanted to see the kid with the nosebleed and the cracked head. At the time, Reese wasn't interested in the attention he was getting. He was more embarrassed than anything.
Half hour goes by and another little girl comes into the room crying. "Anthony just punched my face and now my teeth hurt" .... holy crap, this kid is out of control!
His mother shows up finally. A staff member talks to her outside and gives her 2 pieces of papers to sign. Apparently they are incident reports. She signs them like she signs one every day. Not just that, but she wasn't about to stop and listen to what they had to say to her. She gathered her 2 kids and was about to leave when I walked up. I presented her my son and she could careless. I went about my little speech about how Reese seems to always be on the receiving end of Anthony's tantrums and that she should do something about it. Her response to me?
"Okay"
And she walked out the door with her two kids and never looked back.
You can imagine my rage right then. I wanted to pick something up and throw it at her. How can a parent let their kids be so uncontrollable that you just stop caring? If you're not going to teach your kids right from wrong, don't have any kids at all.
That night as we got in the house, Reese headed straight to the shower. His clothes went right into the wash. I didn't want to see any evidence of this day ever again. I think this hurt me emotionally more than it hurt Reese. He was hurt physically but now he's scarred for life. I tell him that if someone bullies you, don't just take it. Tell an adult, tell someone of authority about it. No one is going to call you a tattletale of a woosie. If they swing at you, it's ok to swing back. Some of you may not agree with me on this, but I dont' really want another day like this anymore. He needs to be able to defend himself. Reese is such a passive kid, he's gentle and will never hurt anyone... not even a bug.
He told me that night before he went to bed that he doesn't want to go to school anymore. He's scared. I would be too if some crazy kid keep coming after me.
Yesterday... Wednesday January 17 ... towards the end of the day I get a phone call from Anderson School. Not the YMCA people.
The assistant to the Principal tells me that Anthony has been expelled from Anderson School due to his behavior. They have had too many incidents with this kid that this was the last straw. Not only was Anthony expelled, but his sister also. She was a third grader at the school and she has her own issues with behavioral problems in class. But ultimately, the rule is that if one kid gets kicked out, the siblings who attend the same school in the district also get expelled.
I can't begin to express how relieved I am.
Reese is especially happy because now he's not afraid to go to school.
He tells me "Mom, if I see Anthony again, I'm going to kick his butt!"
Ok, now you're bold and brave? I think that's a little justice in my little world. It's just really sad that it takes my kid almost getting a concussion for them to finally do something about it.
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