My youngest daughter was bullied at school. Every parents nightmare is to have their children bullied at school. My daughter has told me about how she was bullied at school and that more children were being bullied in the playground and the cloakroom. I was appalled, but did not realise at first that what my child was actually trying to tell me was that the child being bullied in the school was my daughter, after a week of keeping it to herself. Only 6 years old and very petite for a school girl was my daughter, so I was quite worried when this came out, especially to find this behaviour in the school cloakroom and playground.
As a mother of three I knew something was wrong. My daughter wet the bed for a whole week before finding the courage to tell me and Daddy that at school she was being bullied. Her father and i found that getting ready for school in the morning was becoming a nightmare especially as I am a full time working mother.
My child would refuse to wash hands and face etc, stamp back up the stairs instead of eating breakfast with us at the family table, just rejecting the whole getting ready for school process. Then as we were ready to leave for school would grab my legs and hold so tightly to me and say “Please Mother, dont let me go”
Of course i knew i had to see my daughters form teacher as soon as possible and protect my child who was bullied.
This upset me quite a lot as she never calls me Mother, normally its Mummy. This became the final straw, I went into school to talk to the teacher about my daughter being bullied here at this very school, who was deeply shocked and assured me that there was no problem with the work or behaviour during school time. I would not leave the school with the teacher thinking that I was over reacting about nothing as i was certain of the bullying taking place, so I invited the teacher to come to our home to see the manner of how my daughter gets prepared for her school day and then have the right to tell me that it is not the actions of a child being bullied…..Of course the teacher declined this offer.
The teacher walked with me through the cloakroom and playground as the meeting was finished and I was ready to leave and just as we reached the childrens school entrance it was mid playtime and I didnt want my little girl to see me and want to come home with me so I was intent on hurrying through the cloakroom.
Within seconds of passing through the school doorway that leads out into the school playground I caught sight of my little girl looking up to two older children, one girl and one boy. I had never seen them before and my daughter had never mentioned any friends so I was intrigued and hovered. At this point the teacher was saying to me ” See! There, look how happy she is at playtime, honestly we would know if she was being bullied” as if to reassure me once again. just as the word bullied came from her lips, my daughter was pushed to the ground by the boy who looked around 8 years and the girl kicked her and stood on her shin, my poor baby looked much older than 6 years and i would most definately class this behaviour as being bullied.
I was horrified with what i saw and ran to pick her up, the teacher was stood in disbelief, mouth gaping. My daughter had soiled her pants, had multiple bruising and was terrified. I took her home with me and allowed a fortnight off school to deal with the trauma.
The school were very apologetic and the class teacher especially told me how embarrassed she was that she didnt detect my daughter being bullied in the supervised cloakroom or playground, I told them that I had enrolled my daughter in a local kickboxing club so that she will never be bullied again whilst at school…….they remained non responsive , but apologised again. I am just so angry that their initial attitude was to make me believe that I was mistaken and were prepared not to deal with the matter of my little girl being bullied……I still question myself now about what would have happened to my daughter if i had not been there purely by chance to stop it.
When I found Lone Parenting, I wanted to share this bullying ordeal amongst other families and parents and hope that if your child is being bullied that you too will recognise the signs.