Playground Bullies

Last night was Roman's first day of soccer. The normal meet 'n greet. James is coaching again and we currently have 10 players on our team with a possible 2 more by next week's first practice. After the teams were formed and the parents were talking and getting the low down on what to expect, the older kids grabbed a few balls and hit the soccer fields while the younger ones ran for the playground. We began wrapping things up, so I went off to fetch the kids. Dragged Hope off the playground, then began walking to the far end of the field in search of Roman. What I found instead was a 4 year old pinned to the ground by 4 of the older 5 year old boys. Much to my dismay, my son was one of them!

I quickly broke it up, the boy went running off to his mother, but no tears or crying, and the other 3 dispersed while I summoned Roman over for questioning. I did note at this time that the other 3 boys were Roman's friend Sam and two of their new teammates. I marched Roman over to his father for interogation. This is what I heard:

James: "Were you fighting out there?"

Roman: "Yes"

James: "How many?"

Roman: "Just one"

James: "Was he bigger than you?"

Roman: "No, he's only four and this tall (motioning a shorter than him height with his hand)"

James: "Why were you fighting with him?"

Roman: "Because he pushed me down, twice"

James: "Then what happened?"

Roman: "My boys came to my rescue and we got him back"

James: began with the lecture on why that was wrong.... the continued with the follow up. "What do you do next time a bully pushes you?"

Roman: "I push him back"

James: "NO you ask him to stop. What do you do if he does it again?"

Roman: "I hit him"

James: "NO you find an adult and tell him, and you never summon your posse to back you up, unless you're outnumbered. Four on one is not even a fair fight."

We then made Roman apologize to the boy, even though he promised the other kid started it, and when he did, I thought the kid's mother was going to jump me. Let's just say the apple apparently didn't fall far from that tree!