Various thoughts running through my head

I came downstairs this morning and got on the computer as per usual.  I found the last thing that Rich had been reading - an article about why some bullying should be allowed in school. It was inspired by the Casey Heynes video in which an overweight high school kid that was being bullied by classmates turned the tables and finally hit back.  Dr Johnson doesn't advocate "turning high schools into publicly-funded 'Lord of the Flies' re-enactments", but instead states that some amount of bullying helps kids navigate in the real world.

I'm torn between agreeing - because, as the need for The Mom Pledge goes to show, bullying exists for adults as well - and thinking he's hopelessly naive.  Because, while the physical bullying is a bad enough thing, it's the psychological bullying that's the worst.  For every one Casey Heynes, there are hundreds of kids (and yes, I'm pulling the number out of the air so don't take this as gospel) that have fragile egos that makes them both easier prey and life a living hell for them.  And of those, there are a small percentage that snap like Michael Carneal in 1997 and resort to extreme violence.  It's a lot harder to catch the psychological bullying because kids are crafty enough not to do where adults can hear.  And for all that we tell our children that they need to tell an adult when this kind of thing is happening, most kids don't feel comfortable doing so for a variety of reason - no good home life, don't feel like adults take them seriously, feel like telling on the bully makes them a coward.  I think this is the kind of bullying that anti-bullying stances are trying to eradicate.  Because, I do applaud Casey Heynes for standing up for himself, but think that it will be difficult for a lot of other kids to do the same.

(Yeah, my thoughts aren't completely coherent right now. I may try to write more on this later after coffee and my errands for the day are done.)

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Teddy is scared to death of our cat, Lemon.  Lemon has a split personality - sometimes he'll want snuggles or be content to lay at the top of the stairs, watching the world go by and other times, he decides that biting or scratching needs to happen at that moment.  It's happened often enough to Teddy that he hates to walk by Lemon, afraid that this time it's going to be a time that he'll be scratched or bit.  (And this, without realizing it until now, does seem to tie into my above remarks because Lemon is very much a bully.)  And a thought ran through my head that gave me a small smile - you so often hear of kids terrorizing pets.  How often do you hear of pets terrorizing kids?  Not that I'm making light of Teddy's fear of Lemon.  I know it's something that really bothers him and I'm trying to help him get over it.  But the juxtaposition was an odd one in my mind.

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I've finally made an appointment for Teddy to see the doctor.  We're going to need to leave soon.  We won't get to see his doctor, but we will get to see Dr Steigelfest, who is one of Dr Rothman's fabulous partners.  I'm hoping that we'll be able to figure out what's up with Teddy.  Because fevers up and down for the last week is getting worrying.  We'll see what they say.

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And now, I need to get my butt in gear, get my kids dressed and head out the door.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to make a stop at Michael's while we're over there, but I think we'll be done before they open at 9 (appointment is at 8:15.)  Maybe I'll get lucky.

More thoughts to come later, because I know I haven't written them all out.  And really, would I be able to?