A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my car with my son watching his daughter play soccer in an inter-school tournament. There was a group of boys, from a local school, wandering along the edge of the parking lot, eating chips and, seemingly, killing time until their next game.
My son's truck was parked two cars over, where the boys were standing. I was startled when my son jumped out of the car and hurried over to the two boys, the third quickly distancing himself from his teammates saying "I want no part of this."
"What were you doing in my truck?" my son asked. He got the usual 'kid' answer...nothing. He had seen the boys reaching in the open window of his truck, where his phone was sitting on the seat.
There was little further discussion as the boys left, but their greasy (from eating potato chips) fingerprints were all over the window and door of the truck.
We kept our eyes on the group, as they kept their eyes on us. In fact, they seemed to delight in wandering by the car, pointing at us, taunting and laughing. They got others on the team involved and we had a parade of soccer players hovering near us.
I thought this was how mob mentality worked. One person, gets others involved until a situation is out of hand.
We happened to be visited by the coach of our team, a new teacher to the school who came to introduce himself, and told him what events had transpired. We fully believed the first two boys were intending to steal something from the truck...the phone, the smokes, or maybe a deeper search for money. Their efforts were thwarted because they didn't know the driver was two cars away and not down the field at the sidelines.
This teacher drew the coach/teacher from the boys' team aside and explained the situation.
Apparently the boys had told the team that a man had spoken to them and I was glad to be a witness or the boys could have caused even more trouble.
I saw the teacher draw the boys aside and speak to them, but what was said, or what was done as a follow through, I have no idea.
When your kids play on a team, and play with other schools, away from the 'home' field, you can only hope they behave in a responsible manner, showing respect for others, respect for property. It is difficult for one teacher to be aware of each child's behavior, especially when the area is crowded with other teams moving about.
Our kids were from a small country school, and I watched, saw that they stayed together except for trips to the bathroom. These other boys, from a school in town, wandered about, not staying close to their team 'spot', a dining style tent, or cover where they had snacks and could leave their gear.
It was a blight on what was otherwise an enjoyable day, a visit with my son and granddaughter.
It was disappointing to see this kind of behavior, the dishonesty, the bully behavior. But, it said well for the school my grandchildren attend and their teacher who was willing to stand up for what was right.
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