Bullying is no laughing matter

Gracie was bullied at school. Bullying is no laughing matter.

According to our little victim, the crime started out innocently enough on the playground at recess, where a "flicking war" transpired between her and a few boys. Apparently the flicking was all in fun (gentle) at first, but then the boys got carried away and kind of ganged up on her. I won't give you a play-by-play of the entire event, but in the end six boys got in trouble for bullying, pushing, bystanding (not acceptable in 2011) and taunting. Gracie shed some tears at recess but promptly recovered and even forgot to tell me about it by the time she got home from school.

I learned about the incident when our doorbell rang early that evening. One of the boys, whom I will call "Johnny" (because my blog is so widely read, right?) and his mom were standing at our door looking quite grim. Surprised, I invited them in and Johnny delivered a sincere, if pained, apology to Gracie, and then handed her a full-page letter. Gracie, for her part, looked animated and pleased to have a buddy over. And that's the thing - they are buddies. Johnny is actually one of my favorite fourth grade boys. So how did he come to pick on Gracie at recess?

Well, it was the bad influence of the Gummy Bear Squad, obviously.

Yes. The notorious Gummy Bear Squad. They're right up there with the Sharks, Jets, Bloods and Crips.

I have to admit, I wasn't previously familiar with "the squad," but in his heartfelt letter, Johnny rued his involvement with them:

I'm sure I will not do it again. I am not going to be in the squad. I will ask Tyler to quit the gummy bear squad. I'm pretty sure your pretty mad and scared...

It's hard not to smile. I'm picturing a line of fourth grade boys with leather jackets, slicked-back hair, snapping fingers and...

(Ethan suggested that the members of the Gummy Bear Squad were bad seeds who got booted out of the Lollipop Guild).

But we suppress our mirth - and the urge, after reading the letter ("Right then I was being a mean bully. I am ashamed about the very bad choice I made") to exclaim, hand on heart, "Oh, Johnny is such a sweetie!" I don't want to suggest that bullying is cute or funny - it's easy to chuckle at the childishness of the "gang," who I suspect were being too aggressive, rather than malicious, because Gracie was pretty unphased by the whole deal. But I meant what I said before: bullying is no laughing matter.

Unless, of course, the perpetrators are in the notorious Gummy Bear Squad.