Yesterday morning I got a message from a mother of one of Kade's friends saying the boys may be dealing with some bullies at school.  She didn't know the full details but it sounded like there was a group of 4th grade boys picking on Kade, his friend, and perhaps more 1st grade boys.

Shortly after receiving that message, I received a message from the mother of one of the possible bullies (the beauty--or is this the curse?--of small town living).  She wanted to get to the bottom of it and hold her son accountable.  After lots of messaging throughout the day I was eager to get home and talk to Kade.  And these mothers were eager to hear Kade's side of the story.

Of course with Kade, being a 7 year old boy, I knew I only had a small window of time and a limited number of questions I could ask before he would get annoyed and be done talking.  So I did what every good parent would do, I bribed him!!  I would take him to the basketball game if he would spill his guts.  I threw in some candy for good measure.  It worked!

Turns out there was a couple 4th grade boys who decided to make it their mission to shove every 1st grade boy into a snow bank.  Kade (along with a number of other boys) had already been on the receiving end of the knock down a couple of times already.

I'm happy to say he came home with a good report.  The principal got involved, the bullies got in trouble and the 1st grade boys enjoyed a shove-free recess today.  Hopefully that's the end of it.  And if it's not, Uncle Jeremy used to teach at Kade's school and he's still got lots of teacher/friends there.....the beauty of small town living.

Boxes are always better than toys!