That kid! A bully in his own way!

Emily was 7 when we moved to our current location…

Once we knew where we were living, Emily started school and daycare…

…..

There was a boy at the daycare… let’s call him Josh… Josh was one grade ahead of Emily at school and was being picked-up by the daycare van at the same time as Emily.

Everyday, when I picked Emily up at the daycare, she would say bye to Josh and he never ever answered her! He didn’t matter if he was on his own or if his parents were there, he ignored her and his parents did the same! Many times I felt like saying something to them but didn’t want to embarrass Emily…. For months even years, Emily kept saying “Hi Josh” and “Bye Josh” but he kept ignoring her.

I told her to stop, that he wasn’t worth it. I probably called him some not really nice words but she kept at it! Nothing I said worked.

A couple of years into this strange routine, Emily and Josh were in the same class as it was combined class (2 different grades in 1 class).

He just kept ignoring her until one day, the teacher decided to sit Emily and Josh next to each other. The whole class was sitting 2 by 2, Emily had been sitting next to other kids without any issues. When I saw that she was sitting next to Josh, I voiced my concerns to the teacher. I wasn’t going to let that little piece of sh… bring my daughter’s self-esteem down. The teacher promised to keep an eye on them and to make them work together…

Josh had to interact with Emily at school but never did he acknowledged her outside the classroom.

And she never gave up on greeting him and saying goodbye to him! I still don’t know why she never stopped trying to make him acknowledge her or even just see her!

Eventually we moved Emily to another daycare than in 6th grade she moved to a different middle school so we don’t see Josh anymore.

From where I stand, I am happy that he is out of the picture.

Ignoring someone the way he was ignoring Emily is a form of bullying! The fact that his parents saw nothing wrong with the way he was behaving speaks louder than words…

Should I have said something to them? Would you have said something?

3 thoughts on “That kid! A bully in his own way!”

Sadly he learned that from his parents. If a child said hello to one of my children I would expect them to return the greeting. Treat others the way you want to be treated. It was not worth adressing, they were not worth it. Emily is too kind and has too much of a good heart to allow that type of negativity into her space.