Sydney Harbour Kayaking - Two very different days

Crater Cove

Sow & Pigs

North Head

"just a sun shower with lightning and thunder"

fun

before the deluge

More on Bullying

A few weeks ago I wrote about my son being bullied here at his Sydney School. I thought the fact he had finally snapped and stood up for himself may have resolved the problem. Unfortunately this has not been the case. My son was in a terrible state last night and I have had to keep him home from school today.

What to do? He didn't want me to speak to the Headmaster as he said that would "get me killed". Whilst this might sound a little melodramatic it is a clear example of the deleterious effect this is having on the mental health of my son. In an effort to have an indepeendent person provide advice I asked my son to call the National Kids Helpline last night.  He spent an hour talking with soeone there.

I am so upset about this I can hardly think of anything else.

I rang the school to get an appointment with the Headmaster and he was booked out for the day. To his credit he did ring me this morning and promised to help my son get through this and to get to the bottom of the issue in a sensitive way that does not make matters worse for my son (think - more bullying - dobber etc).

I hope he follows through. I will be naming and shaming the school next week if he doesn't.

Narrawallee Inlet at Christmas 2010

The water was so glass like I hardly wanted to break the surface and tranquility with my paddle. Narrawallee, South Coast NSW.  Video by Steven Hayes

Wonder Elixir

My GP has this sign on her wall:

I suggested she prescribe some to me for my ankle. Unfortunately she didn't think I was serious.

School Bullying

I've been toying with whether or not to write about this for a while now. My sons attend a school in Sydney. My youngest son was in his first year of high school last year. Mid way through 2010 one of the classes asked each boy (yes it is a Boys only school) to talk about their family background.
My son mentioned his mother was of German background.
Unfortunately this started a prolonged six month campaign of bullying by a few of the boys in his year. Most of it calling him and his mother a Nazi, simply because of his German heritage.
The school took some action towards the end of the year when it turned physical. While the physical side of things ceased, the boys started other more subtle ways of carrying out their bullying. Exclusion from activities, going quiet whenever my son joined a group etc.
Over the Christmas break my son had a couple of bad days where he was actually suffering anxiety about returning to school this year.
I spoke with the school and asked if classes could be arranged so that the worst perpetrators were not in the same class as my son. I also started my son off with some Aikido classes to build up his self confidence.
Well it turns out his self confidence has grown. On a school bus last week he was being bullied by two boys flicking a key attached to several rubber bands at him. My son asked them to stop three times. On the fourth "flick" my son turned around and belted the one with the rubber band and key. A fight then ensued and my son ended up on top of this boy on the floor of the bus. He asked the other boy to calm down and he would let him up. Of course as soon as he let the boy up he was attacked again. My son responded with another "great punch" to the eye of the boy and then the bus driver intervened. According to my son a "cool" Year 12 boy said it was a "great punch".
Long story short: I know it's not PC to encourage violence, but gee I'm a proud dad, and so happy my son stood up for himself.
Of course this means both boys (my son and one of the bullies)are on detention at school tomorrow. Fair cop and well worth it in my view