I had to make the call. I went round and round in my head about whether I should do it or not and then the “last straw” happened so I made the call.
I tattled.
Not really a tattle, but I had to call a parent and tell them something their child was doing to my child that I thought they needed to know about. It came from a place of concern, and I looked at it as if it were my son, I would want to know.
The more I write, I realize that it was a parent tattle.
My son stutters, always has and probably always will. He uses the stuttering as a placeholder, while his brain catches up to his thought process. We’ve been working through how to handle it since he was old enough to talk, and have learned ways to stop when it happens and how to prevent it by breathing.
A friend at school noticed the stutter and started making fun of him for it. He would say, “Hey MMMMMax,” and the teasing would go on from there. It went on for a few months, and each time my son would tell me about it, we would dissect what happened and learn how in that situation we could have done things differently. I would ask him how it made him feel and he would say, that his friend just doesn’t understand how his brain works, and I let it go. It obviously bothered me far more than it bothered him.
Our conversations about this “friend” were becoming more frequent, and it seemed like it might be bothering my little guy. One day he came home and told me that his friend declared to the whole class that Max stuttered and started imitating him and laughing.
That is when I knew I had to tattle.
My Max was embarrassed and was in tears. I told him that I needed to think about what we should do about it. My husband and I discussed it and decided a call should go home. If Max was treating a friend this way, we would want to know so we could talk to him about how we should treat people.
So I called… and tattled.
I had the best conversation with a parent, from a place of love for both of our children, not a place of anger or frustration. The parent was so gracious, heard me out, and explained how he was thankful for the call and that he would discuss it with his child.
Later that night, he called me back and told me he had a good discussion with his child, his child was ashamed, and that my son should anticipate an apology.
The love I have for both of these boys is tremendous, and I’m hoping this “parent tattle” will help them both in the long run, in their relationship with each other and how to treat people in the future.
I’m hoping the next time I get a “parent tattle,” I can show as much care and concern as I was shown, and we can keep learning and growing.
