Beth had a good weekend, she didn’t speak much about her camp last week but she did say that she enjoyed it. When I went to school yesterday to pick her up I was a little worried though. A boy who had been on camp came out and told me that Beth had had a bad time at camp. When I asked him why he told me that all the kids were telling Beth that she was ugly.
When Beth had first told me that the girls in her room had said she was ugly I thought that maybe Beth had said something first. It’s the type of thing that she says and I thought that horrible as it was, maybe she’d learn by being on the receiving end. I was worried after yesterday though because if a boy had heard about it it means that it hadn’t just happened in the room, that it might be a bit of a peer group pressure thing. You know what they say, kids that are bullies are often bullied themselves. It’s better to be the bullier than to be bullied by the main bully if you know what I mean.
I wrote an email to the middle school coordinator explaining my concerns and received a prompt email back last night. I’ll call her Mrs M. She had said that she had been aware of this in the room and that she’d spoken to all girls concerned. She said that she thought it had only happened once so perhaps Beth told this boy that it had happened. Mrs M. said that she’d speak with the girls concerned, with Beth and also with the boy who had told me. She also told me what a lovely time Beth had had on camp. She said that a boy called Callum had taken to Beth and had made sure that she was always with the group, holding her hand to get her going and looking after her.
I was very happy with the response I had gotten and will let you know the outcome.