I'm wondering if I can get some advice from some of you familiar with youth swim teams and how they deal with disciplinary issues. As a backdrop, some of you may remember my previous description of my son as having Asperger's syndrome. He is 11 years old and, as you might imagine, a target of bullying and harassment in school. One of the offenders is a boy on his swim team who is 12 and much more physically mature. In school he has been cursing at my son, falsely telling one of the teachers that my son is "talking" and getting him in trouble (occurring on almost a daily basis, I have filed a complaint against the teacher), degrading him, etc. Most of this is primarily a school issue, but there was one event that I think relates to swimming and the team coaches should know about. One day, one of the trio of bullies went up to my son and asked him if he was any good. My son answered "yes" ( in reality he is OK, 35 sec 50 yard free). The kid called out to the swimmer I mentioned and said "hey, ....says he is good.". The swimmer responded "well, I got a 26 f...r, top that. You suck.". They essentially lured him into a trap, and he is innocent/socially awkward enough to fall into it.
My opinion of young swimmers in general has been very favorable. Most of them are extremely sweet and good kids, so I was very surprised to hear about this one. I am wondering if this type of behavior, particularly degrading fellow swimmers, is one that I should bring up to the head coach. While it did not occur during practice or a meet, I do believe it is relevant to the type of swimmer and person they expect on the team. I do not think any action would be taken at this point, but at the very least the coach could talk to him or even keep a mental record should it continue.
Any thoughts? I really feel that it might have more of an impact than anything the school could say or do.
Icidentally, this swimmer's best time ws 28.5, 55th out of 63 for the 11-12 year-olds at JO. I looked it up:)
Parents
Former Member
Bullying is not limited to just a school behavior and there is an increasing lack of civility and aggressive behavior by adults too.
I guess it’s the result of the long term economic mess and many people are getting stressed out and simply mad at the world. Many psychologists also make the observation that as the world is getting more populated and more crowded, there are simply “Too many rats in the box” and aggressive behavior is becoming pandemic.
As for school bullies, it sounds like the situation is starting to get red hot and if past incidents are a picture of the future, there is definitely a potential for deadly violence–IE- Columbine, Virginia Tech, for example. School administrators cannot look the other way any more and there needs to be a serious campaign to prevent violence before someone gets fed up and brings a gun to school.
In general, the campaign must focus on the problem that bullies don’t appreciate the consequences of aggressive behavior and bullies need to use logical reasoning, common sense, and critical thinking about the real consequences (-IE- the possibility of more school shootings) of mistreating other students.
Accordingly, here are some very appropriate names for the anti-bullying campaign: “Bullies Are Dummies: They Just Can't Learn How To Stay Out Of Trouble?” or “Don’t Be Retarded -Fix Your Learning Disorder Before It Gets You Hurt”, or “Don’t Play With Fire And You Won’t Get Burned", or "You May Be Your Victim's Next Victim". :agree:
D2
Bullying is not limited to just a school behavior and there is an increasing lack of civility and aggressive behavior by adults too.
I guess it’s the result of the long term economic mess and many people are getting stressed out and simply mad at the world. Many psychologists also make the observation that as the world is getting more populated and more crowded, there are simply “Too many rats in the box” and aggressive behavior is becoming pandemic.
As for school bullies, it sounds like the situation is starting to get red hot and if past incidents are a picture of the future, there is definitely a potential for deadly violence–IE- Columbine, Virginia Tech, for example. School administrators cannot look the other way any more and there needs to be a serious campaign to prevent violence before someone gets fed up and brings a gun to school.
In general, the campaign must focus on the problem that bullies don’t appreciate the consequences of aggressive behavior and bullies need to use logical reasoning, common sense, and critical thinking about the real consequences (-IE- the possibility of more school shootings) of mistreating other students.
Accordingly, here are some very appropriate names for the anti-bullying campaign: “Bullies Are Dummies: They Just Can't Learn How To Stay Out Of Trouble?” or “Don’t Be Retarded -Fix Your Learning Disorder Before It Gets You Hurt”, or “Don’t Play With Fire And You Won’t Get Burned", or "You May Be Your Victim's Next Victim". :agree:
D2
