Anti Bullying week
Anti-bullying week has now been and gone.
Am I alone in feeling nervous in seeing posters up with ‘Hands are for helping not hitting’ and ‘Teeth are for smiling not biting’ - do they need telling in our school? Blimey, maybe they do. Maybe without those posters to remind them the playground would descend into biting hitting frenzy. This anti-bullying week was notable as the first time my younger boy has evidenced any sign of being the possible target of an incident (admittedly minor!) though he wasn’t sure if it was intended or not. He came home with his hair full of blu-tak, which he said was put in there by a classmate. He said it was easy to see when he hit you but not so obvious if he took the blu-tak tack.
Also, he says, the clampdown on fighting has indeed come. It is so comprehensive that even pretend weaponry has been banned. Though not, he hastens to add, all pretend weaponry. Not allowed are; pretend swords, pretend daggers, pretend halberds, pretend axes (if handheld). You are still allowed pretend guns, pretend spears, pretend bows and arrows, and pretend axes (thrown). He thinks you should be allowed pretend halberds as long as you throw them. But you aren’t. How the playground superviser can tell what sort of weapon you are pretending to be holding I don’t know. But then she is very experienced. I wouldn’t put it past her. Apparently one of the boys was going in right to the hilt, as it were, with a pretend sword, having obviously not see Poster No. 1. Hence the ban. Without thinking I asked our boy, what about pretend pretend swords? It took him a while to work it out, but I could see a bad light in his eye when he did. I think he may be armed and dangerous tomorrow. I just hope the Blu-tak Attacker has got his wits about him.