Speaking Out About Bullying

by Kathy
(Alabama, USA)

My son is 15 years old and just finished the 9th grade. About half way into the school year, I noticed that his grades were slipping, he didn't want to go to school due to headaches, he didn't want to ride the bus, he stopped socializing with his friends (or so called friends). I asked him several times what was wrong and he said nothing was wrong.

A little about his back ground. We held him back in 6th grade due to a severe head injury that he suffered. We thought that he would do better with a new group of friends since his personality changed so much from traumatic brain injury. Keep in mind, that on the outside, he still looked the same, but he was different. His thought process was different and if I may say so, he seemed more intelligent and was more apt to speak out where as before the accident he was a very shy kid, but also had some really close friends.

After seeing him this way for a while, I made an appointment with a child psychologist. Believe me when I say that I was so shocked when he started describing how he was being treated at school. Boys, that we thought were his friends, that had been to my home, had spent the weekend with him, with whom he had played sports with, and who he had gone on vacation with, were being very mean, and hateful towards him. Let me go on to say that I thought my son was popular, he was always around popular kids, he's a good looking person with a very sweet and sincere side about him. He has been holding all of this in and he even mentioned suicide.

My heart is broken, my trust in his friends are gone, my first thought is to call the parents and ask what kind of person are they raising in their home. But, none of us want to believe that our children would do such a thing. Next I want to relocate him to another school and have been searching private schools, however; I decided that he has done nothing wrong, why should he up and move? I feel as if we need to stay and confront this or these boys will continue to be offenders. How do I confront this situation, how do I keep my son feeling safe and secure? I'm so disappointed and hurt at this point.