When a Texas mom found out her son was picking on some of his classmates, she took a bold stand, making him wear an “I Am A Bully” shirt to school as a lesson. But some think she went too far.
Identified only by her first name, Star, the woman said this was in response to him calling classmates “stupid idiots.”
She said she was “old school” and to prove it, she posted pictures of her son on Facebook. Soon after, however, people online began calling her style of parenting “cruel.” Likely due to this, the posts were removed. As far as she is concerned, the method works, though.
“I don’t coddle my children,” she told a local TV station. “I don’t sugar-coat the world to them.”
Star wrote, “I posted it to reach out to the parents of any of the kids my son may have bullied so that each one of them could get a personal apology.”
She claims it works and that her son’s behavior has already improved toward his siblings and cousins.
“I wanted to know what he learned from it and he said, ‘I learned that I didn’t like the way that that felt and I don’t want anybody else to feel that way because of me,’” Star recalled. She said this was “exactly what I wanted him to take from it.”
A child psychiatrist at Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Richard Pesikoff, said that he understood why Star was worried about her son’s behavior but did not agree with how she handled the situation. He said:
“I don’t think it requires the scarlet letter, searing the letter ‘B’ on his forehead. Not a good idea to embarrass your child and solidify a negative identity in an elementary school child. She needs to find somebody to help her and I think the school is one resource.”
The surprising aspect of this entire incident was that the teachers at the Splendora Independent School District supported Star with her decision. A spokesperson for the school district said in a statement:
“Parents have the rights to make important decisions and take certain actions on behalf of their child. This parent met with our counselor at Greenleaf Elementary School to discuss the student wearing the ‘I am a Bully’ T-shirt. The counselor, parent and student met with all three of the student’s teachers prior to entering the classroom.”
“The parent explained her rationale for the student wearing the shirt to the teachers and counselor. Ensuring a safe, physical, emotional and social environment is one of Splendora ISD’s Core Principles. With that in mind, our counselor checked on the child throughout the day on Friday and plans to follow up with the student and the parent early this week.”
Star certainly wasn’t expecting to stir up a full-blown controversy. But that’s just what happened.
Some folks thought she’d gone too far by making her son wear the shirt to school. In fact, she ended up deleting her post because of the wave of backlash. But no matter what others say, Star says her son learned his lesson.
“I did what I had to do to stop it from progressing,” she said.
Watch the video below for more details:
