If you saw two boys fighting on the playground after school would you try to stop the fight? I faced this situation yesterday when I took Nate and two of his friends to the school playground. Hailey was already there with a few friends she was hanging out with after school. There was a larger than normal group of older kids hanging out and the atmosphere was definitely ugly when we arrived. It was clear there was going to be a fight between two boys, one is a well known bully in our school. The other boy for whatever reason had recently become a target of the bully and he wasn't backing down. Other parents with young children left and I was the only adult on the playground. It seemed leaving quickly was the easiest thing to do but something was nagging at the back of my mind. I knew there was going to be a fight and as adult maybe I could stop it. I really didn't want anyone to get hurt. But it also wasn't any of my business, right? Everyone was sitting on the playground equipment as if at an arena watching these boys (except for Nate and his friends who completely missed the whole thing), insults and language were being exchanged. I called Eric for backup and perhaps an idea of what to do... when the punches started flying. Having never considered what to do in this particular situation I wasn't sure what to do but instinct took over.
It was purely a gut reaction. I was tired and chilled to the bone from hiking through the woods all day with the 5th grade, inspecting moose scat, and watching birds. A small ball of energy formed in my gut and just came flying out of my mouth "HEY! KNOCK IT OFF! STOP THAT FIGHTING RIGHT NOW! GET ON YOUR BIKES AND GO HOME!". Amazingly, the fight stopped and approximately 25 pairs of eyes turned and looked at me, which was rather uncomfortable. While I held my ground to let them know I was serious, I wondered why I yelled something so stupid as "knock it off". Gut reactions apparently aren't eloquent. I waited until the two boys were a good distance from each other and left. Noticing the administrators were still at the school, I reported it putting any further problems into their hands. But I wondered was there a better way to handle the situation? If I had been prepared and known what to do could I have stopped the fight before it happened? What would you have done?
5 comments:
I would step in and try to stop it. At that moment they were playing "nice" one on one, but a girl from my school died when 5 girls beat her to death over a boy.
Never walk away
You would never forgive yourself if you found out that a kid died because of it.
Wow, what a tradegy. It hadn't occurred to me that the entire group might have joined in or that anyone could have been killed. You are absolutely right.
That's a tough one, but I think you handled it perfectly. It was the right thing to do to wait until the "fight" actually started... you gave them a chance to stop it on their own, and only stepped in when the punches flew.
Wow Charlotte that was brave. I think you handled the situation just fine. You observed and then when needed you took action. I hope I would be able to step up like that if needed.
Good for you Charlotte! I think that's awesome that you did step in and stopped it. I don't know if I ever attempted something like that, that I would be taken seriously because of my height. But I really think you did the right thing and think that it's great that you did! :)
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