Marguerite
Active Member
Okay, the Halloween saga about the local boys attacking the ice cream truck is continuing. Now the boy who apologised to me yesterday has posted again, apparently completely remorseless. Also apparently, the ban on FB from his parents is not holding. Should I let them know again? I get on well with the boy's mother, the dad was very aggressive but also angry at his son.
I have not heard from my friend at all (mother of difficult child 3's friend and the original FaceBook friend poster). I rang tonight and left a message asking her to call me. I also began looking up other kids' names and spoke to one parent, will need to drop in a letter to another (I was planning on letting them know anyway).
Other than that, I have just reported the thread to FaceBook as it contains racist, offensive comments. I would like to report more (such as these kids having lied about their ages to get a FB page while under-age) but there has to be a limit. I have not yet unfriended my young friend - I want to stay informed.
I have been told more about these boys and what they did - they were also attacking groups of kids trick or treating, including the little girl across the street. She said they were chasing her and her friends to throw eggs at them.
If nothing more can be done, then I will draft an article for the local paper. Not mentioning names (of course) but discussing the dangers of throwing objects, even apparently harmless ones, at moving vehicles. We had a news story about this just today - a couple of boys faced court over dropping a rock onto the highway which cracked a driver's windscreen. yes, that is an offence here. Also the illegality of expressing racist taunts publicly, of cyber-bullying and of then bragging about your illegal actions on social network sites. I know the editor would publish it (I'd probably get the cover), but I don't really want to have to deal with the woman. She might insist on me naming names (she's a bit strange).
I also have increasing confirmation that some of the boys involved in Monday's incident were also involved in difficult child 3's getting attacked two years ago.
I know this may seem trivial, but these kids are part of a longer-term local behaviour problem which is persisting because nobody has ever challenged it. It has now reached a point where I will not respond to them on FaceBook (I stopped responding after my second post and I kept my posts polite but "disappointed") but I also cannot let them think they have won. They MUST know that I have taken appropriate action and they did the wrong thing. I won't get through to them all - just one will do.
I might have to see if I can persuade the truck driver to make a complaint after all, now I have names. Trouble is, I think he is scared. Frankly, I don't blame him.
Marg
I have not heard from my friend at all (mother of difficult child 3's friend and the original FaceBook friend poster). I rang tonight and left a message asking her to call me. I also began looking up other kids' names and spoke to one parent, will need to drop in a letter to another (I was planning on letting them know anyway).
Other than that, I have just reported the thread to FaceBook as it contains racist, offensive comments. I would like to report more (such as these kids having lied about their ages to get a FB page while under-age) but there has to be a limit. I have not yet unfriended my young friend - I want to stay informed.
I have been told more about these boys and what they did - they were also attacking groups of kids trick or treating, including the little girl across the street. She said they were chasing her and her friends to throw eggs at them.
If nothing more can be done, then I will draft an article for the local paper. Not mentioning names (of course) but discussing the dangers of throwing objects, even apparently harmless ones, at moving vehicles. We had a news story about this just today - a couple of boys faced court over dropping a rock onto the highway which cracked a driver's windscreen. yes, that is an offence here. Also the illegality of expressing racist taunts publicly, of cyber-bullying and of then bragging about your illegal actions on social network sites. I know the editor would publish it (I'd probably get the cover), but I don't really want to have to deal with the woman. She might insist on me naming names (she's a bit strange).
I also have increasing confirmation that some of the boys involved in Monday's incident were also involved in difficult child 3's getting attacked two years ago.
I know this may seem trivial, but these kids are part of a longer-term local behaviour problem which is persisting because nobody has ever challenged it. It has now reached a point where I will not respond to them on FaceBook (I stopped responding after my second post and I kept my posts polite but "disappointed") but I also cannot let them think they have won. They MUST know that I have taken appropriate action and they did the wrong thing. I won't get through to them all - just one will do.
I might have to see if I can persuade the truck driver to make a complaint after all, now I have names. Trouble is, I think he is scared. Frankly, I don't blame him.
Marg