I think one of the hardest parts of sending my son off to Kindergarten, was the fear that some other kid would malign his self-worth. You know… a bully. But we’re over halfway through the school year and it’s been smooth sailing.
Until yesterday. Isaiah got off the school bus, his little 5-year-old shoulders slumped. I asked him what was wrong and he said that some kids had been picking on him. I was getting ready to pull out my phone and speed-dial the school, but I dug a little deeper.
“What did they do to you?” I queried. Isaiah replied with great indignation, “They… they… they called us The Three Musk’teers!”
I wasn’t super successful at not laughing, but I did try to pry more of the story out of him. Turns out, when he’d gotten on the bus with his two other Kindergarten buddies, the bus driver had said they were like The Three Musketeers. Some of the older kids had latched onto this nickname and began saying it repeatedly to them.
Isaiah went on to tell me, “They weren’t being good friends. An’ I yelled at them! One girl kept looking at us and saying it, so I told her, ‘I’ve got my eye on you!’ and I told her, ‘You better watch out, because I’m almost 6!'”
I tried to convince him “The Three Musketeers” wasn’t really a derogatory nickname. We went home and looked up The Three Musketeers in Google Images to see that, not only were they some guys with cool swords, but also a yummy candy bar. He still wasn’t too impressed, although he liked the looks of the candy bar.
The thing that concerns me is, today is his 6th birthday! What is going to happen to those bullies now? They’d better not mess with him, or he’ll unleash all of his newly acquired big-kid fury. I hope I’m not the one getting a call from the school…
