Shiner

On Wednesday Jake came home from school with a red swollen area under his eye. I figured it was something he had done during shop class and didn't think much of it and I teased him about getting hit. Then he told me he did in fact get hit. After school when he went to the parking lot, a kid had put his tailgate down and  three boys, one a kid from his class that he thought was a friend, surrounded him. Soon fists were flying and Jake was hit in the face 2 times. I was shocked and in disbelief. Here we are letting Jake go to public school and two months in he is in a fight. This kind of thing is a big deal on school property. Jake said the Graden girls were in the parking lot and probably saw the whole thing. He was so sad and embarrassed about it. He thinks a lot of those girls. In the evening Jake told Mark and we all three talked it over. We decided Jake should go and talk to his teacher Mrs. Anderson and probably tell the principal. Thursday Jake drove a different truck, talked to Mrs. Anderson, and the principal. The more questions I asked Jake, the more I found out. He had thrown his backpack down, which gave the other boys the impression he wanted to fight. There were also words exchanged. He very likely provoked them into a fight by his words and actions. This all makes me very sad. It sounded like a situation that escalated very quickly and all could have been prevented if he just got into his truck and went home. On Friday I decided as a parent I would go talk to the school. I met with the principal and we discussed the situation.
 For years I have been talking to him about having self control and holding his tongue, two things he gets in trouble at home for often. I hope and pray that Jake will learn much from this. We know the boys should never have hit Jake, but he also should have handled himself better. I pray that he understands what he did wrong and how to handle a situation in the future. This was an eye opening incident and I am sure he will grow from it.