It is not uncommon for parents to come across incidents of bullying targeting their kids in schools. In most such instances, either the parents deal with the classmates bullying their child face to face or approach the school authorities for intervention. A majority of parents get angry when they find out their kids are being intimidated by someone in the school. While that is an instinct, sometimes adopting a different policy can help in dissolving the conflicts. That is what a father did when he came to know his son was being bullied by a classmate. What followed was something he did not expect.
Aubrey Fontenot is a Houston-based tattoo artist. He came to know his son Jordan was being bullied at school by a boy named Tamarion. Instead of rebuking that kid, he decided to get to the root of the issue. He wanted to find out why Tamarion was resorting to bullying his son. The act of compassion worked wonders.
Fontenot learned why Tamarian was bullying his son
Fontenot met Tamarion and took him for a vehicle ride and spoke at length with him. What he found out left him somewhat amazed. He came to know Tamarion was facing a lot of hardships and that resulted in his hostile approach to Jordan. Fontenot also talked to Tamarion’s mother. Then he came to know about the struggles faced by the family. His family was going through very tough times. Fontenot then wanted to extend his support to that kid.
He made the two boys interact and make peace. The result was beyond his initial expectations. They started playing video games together and bonded like they were childhood buddies. Fontenot later shared his experience of dealing with the bullying kid on social media. The fact was Tamarion was also being victimized in some ways. The family was near homeless and he did not have proper attire and shoes. As a result, he was teased by others and that made him bitter. So he vented his frustration by bullying Jordan.
Fontenot realized that there was a reason behind the bullying and he wanted to eliminate the root cause. He wrote: “We have no clue what these children are going through these days because a lot of us just don’t care. And this is not an uncommon story for a lot of people. So, I spent a lot of my day yesterday shopping and teaching this young man [Tamarion] about self-respect. Integrity. Morals. Confidence. And other things that consist of going from a troubled youth to a great man.”
Fontenot did not just stop there. Later, he set up a page on GoFundMe to collect some funds to help Tamarion’s family. The nice thing is the page has received contributions worth $7,000 and more are pouring in. This incident goes a long way in proving the importance of values like compassion, humanity, and generosity. If more people would just spend a little time exploring the roots of conflicts in life, the world would become a better place to live in.
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