November 4: Daughter, Bullying, and My Car

One of my daughter’s best friends has turned into a mean boy.  “Grady” has been hanging out with my daughter for years.  They played together all the time.  He was over at our house practically every day this past summer.  I really liked Grady.  He was laid-back and funny.  Since the start of the school year, however, Grady has transformed into a little bit of a bully.

First, he joined a pee-wee football team, which he did last year, as well.  No problem.  Then, literally the first day at the bus stop, he started hanging out with another boy from the neighborhood, telling my daughter he needed some “guy time.”  No problem there, either.  While my daughter was a little upset about losing the company of one of her best friends, she eventually got used to the idea.  Then, Grady turned mean.

One day on the bus, my daughter was sitting with a friend and laughed about something.  Grady yelled from a few seats behind her, “You have such an annoying laugh!”  The rest of the students on the bus laughed.  A little while later, my daughter laughed again, and he repeated his statement, much to the amusement of the rest of the kids.  My daughter came home that day in tears.

Well, that weekend, Grady and I had a little man-to-man talk.  I told him how much he hurt my daughter’s feelings.  I told him that what he was doing was bullying her.  “And I know you don’t want to be a bully, do you, Grady?” I said.  He shook his head seriously.  I told him I wasn’t going to talk to his parents about the incident, but if anything else happened, I would speak with his mom or dad.

Last week, my daughter was waiting for the bus, and Grady came marching up to her and said, “Stop tattling on me, you little shit.”

So, yesterday, my wife called Grady’s mother and had a talk with her.  Yesterday afternoon, Grady’s dad and Grady came over to our house.  Grady’s dad made Grady apologize, much to Grady’s chagrin.  My wife said he obviously did not want to apologize.  His dad apologized more than once and, as they were leaving, said to Grady, “You are so grounded for a long time.”

I have a feeling that our trouble with Grady isn’t over.  My daughter was planning to hide at the bus stop this morning until the bus showed up, so she didn’t have to face Grady’s wrath.  I told her not to.  I told her to tell the bus driver if Grady retaliated.  I never would have predicted this kind of behavior from Grady.  This summer, we took him camping and swimming.  I bought him ice cream, treated him to a movie.  And now, he’s become a little asshole.

I don’t want to get Grady in trouble, but I also don’t want my daughter to be afraid of waiting for her bus.  To quote one of my best friends, “Kids suck.”  They do, sometimes.  I really pray that Grady learned his lesson yesterday afternoon.  I don’t think my daughter’s friendship with him will ever be the same, although Grady’s older brother has a crush on my daughter.

Grady doesn’t really know how lucky he is.  My first instinct was to run him over with my car, but the adult in me took over.  I’d have to pay too much to get my car fixed if I did that.  Plus, there’s that whole prison thing.  I don’t think they’d let me blog behind bars, and I don’t really want to be some hairy convict’s bitch.

Saint Marty’s just going to lay low, watch what happens, and keep the engine running.

Time to take Scott Farkus out