Playground Bully

It never occur to me that I'll have to deal with the "bully" issue this soon. While you may have read about primary school kids or teenagers being bullied in school, I was shocked to find one near our home - the playground. And one whom I thought was a friendly neighbour!!!

The bully is a 8-9 year old boy staying 2 storeys below our unit. He is the 2nd born to a family of 3 kids. The only boy, in fact. One could tell he is the apple of his father's and grandma's eyes. His mother is a very sweet, demure lady from China whom I think deserves respect for being a very considerate neighbour and brought her 2 daughters up well. What happened to the boy then? Well, I suspect he is the typical spoilt brat raised in a family where the male species are thought to be of greater "value" and "class".

It was a breezy evening when Ya-Ya decided to bring the munchkins to the playground on her own so I could have a peaceful meal. There were quite a number of children playing, so En decided to stay on her tricycle while Xuan charged to the slide (as usual). Ya-Ya decided to stick around with Xuan while keeping an eye on En from a distance. That was when the boy took the opportunity to prey on En.

No one knew exactly when happened since En's vocabulary is very limited. What Ya-Ya saw was the boy standing next to En's tricycle, holding her left hand which was on the handlebars. En was seen trembling as though in pain or fear. Ya-Ya sensed something unusual, so she ran towards the "crime scene". The boy then ran off to join his elder sister.

En wailed loudly the moment she saw Ya-Ya. She then show Ya-Ya her left hand and said the word "painful." There, on her little hand (near her wrist), was a fresh cut apparently caused by finger nails sinking into her tender flesh. When asked what happened to her wrist, she answered "Gor-Gor". #$%^&*!!! I can't believe my little girl was assaulted at the playground by a familiar face!!! Anyway, the outraged Ya-Ya signalled the boy to join her and gave him a good dressing down. Ya-Ya also told the boy's sister about the incident, and polite girl quickly apologised on her brother's behalf.

Ya-Ya brought the girls straight home thereafter. En was still crying when she showed me her fresh wound. Lately, she also displayed higher level of anxiety whenever there are boys at the playground. I believe she had been badly traumatised by the incident.

While I have been teaching my girls to love one another and not to be violent, what happened this time round prompted me to share "self defense" with them as well. I feel it is a "life skill", especially for girls. And I told myself I will give the boy a piece of mind the next time I see him in the neighbourhood. And I will insist he apologise to En, even if the scar on her wrist is no longer visible.