This has been a pretty dodgy week as far as weeks go.

Thursday

For a few weeks I had noticed a change in Bubble. The nights before kinda he had trouble sleeping and did not want to go in the morning. Getting him dressed was turning in to a game of stealth and cunning. It was time for a chat...

He eventually told me he was afraid to go to kinda because a boy was always hurting him and it sounded like it had been going on for some time. The hairs on my neck were bristling like a she-wolf as I took the boys to kinda. I told one of the staff what Bubble had reported and she told me she would watch the situation and have a talk to Bubble. We also made an appointment to chat with the coordinator.

Friday

On friday we took Bubble to the Naturopath. We talked about bullying and stress as an asthma trigger. She remembered that on the night of the big asthma attack Mat had taken him in to see her and while they were chatting Bubble told her a boy had stood on his stomach and that it was still hurting. She had checked him over at the time but in all the hubbub Mat had forgotten to tell me about it. It turned out that the boy who stood on his tummy was the one doing the bullying.

On the Weekend

We talked to the boys about everyone feeling safe and saying 'Stop' and 'No, I don't like that' to bullies. We played a game on some toy phones. It's amazing how easily children can talk about their problems when they are role-playing. The game was a phone number you could call to tell the other person something that had upset you. I learned a lot about kinda and also that my 'angry voice' is too loud and scary. Yikes.

Monday

We had the meeting at kinda to discuss our worries and the strategies that they had put in place for dealing with the issue. The boy had apologised and they had been given a special responsibility to share, caring for the indoor plants. We felt much better.

Tuesday

We had to hunt down a friend and ask for a loan to be re-payed. Yuck.