My elder sister has an eight years old son. She regularly asks him in the evening about his day and he explains about all the stuff that he did.
She also asks him explicitly if anyone misbehaved with him or he felt sad/hurt/dominated by anyone in school or society. To which, he often says no.
A few days back, she asked him the same question and he said all was well and went to play.
Later, he approached her again and informed, “The art teacher didn’t behave well, mumma”
She asked calmly, “What happened?”
With fear in his voice, he told, “I forgot to fill the form today so she told me that she will break my glasses if I didn’t fill it by tomorrow.”
She hugged him and asked him to not worry.
While he went back to play, she went to another room and called the office of the art school.
Bell rang and someone received the call. She introduced herself and inquired about the lady who received her son’s form today. Fortunately, the caller herself was the one who received the form.
My sister with a stern voice asked her, “So you are going to break my son’s glasses if he couldn’t fill the form by tomorrow?”
Caller: Maam?
She: How DARE you speak to him like that?
Caller: I am sorry mam, I was frustrated with something else and lost my cool on him. I love your kid. I never talk to kids like this. I am sorry.
She: I know the one who hired you for the art school! I know the people where you are a full-time teacher. Don’t you dare threaten my kid again!
Caller: I am sorry, mam! It won’t happen again.
She counseled her for the next 15 minutes on how to speak to kids and how they are so quick to grab the language we speak around them.
That was the time I realized that kids don’t tell every negative incident by themselves. They absorb everything. Praises as well as negativity. We need to make our kids comfortable with us so that they can share everything!
That’s him. My goofball!
Edit: I hardly write edits on my answers but here I will for people who believe that the Teacher was not completely wrong or there are better ways to handle the situation rather than scolding the teacher.
I am sure there would be and certainly, this is not the best and last way to deal with this situation. The only reason I put up this answer is to let people know that communication helps a lot to know the insights of your child’s life. This answer was not at all about the techniques to deal with bullies. I will write a separate answer to that one. Thanks for the care and concerns!