She’s had enough of her child getting bullied and the school not handling it. So, when it happened again, she refused to stand by without doing anything!
The Case of the Missing Bento Box
OP’s (Original Poster) sister bought her 6-year-old daughter a $50 bento box. One Thursday, after school, her daughter came home, and while unpacking her bag, she noticed that the bento box wasn’t there.
She asked her daughter what had happened and found out that a girl in her class named Audrey had taken it and did not want to give it back. Her daughter also went to her teacher, who dismissed the concern and told her that “it’s just a lunchbox” and that “it shouldn’t matter.”
Ignored Bullying
Hearing Audrey’s name isn’t new for OP, as this kid and other girls always picked on her daughter. There were many times that she went to the school board and principal, and they would say it was being handled when, in fact, nothing was done to address the children’s behavior.
Taking Action
Upset wasn’t even the word to describe how OP felt. So she went to her child’s school 30 minutes before lunchtime the next day to request a meeting with her daughter’s teacher and the principal.
A Stolen Bento
They included her daughter in the meeting, and OP explained the situation, so they had someone get Audrey. The little girl came in with the lunchbox to “prove” it was hers.
But to be sure, OP asked them to open the lunchbox because her daughter’s name was inside, and that’s precisely what they found when they opened it.
Not Tolerating This Behavior
When OP requested that Audrey return the bento box to her daughter, the girl began crying. So, the teacher asked if it would be okay for Audrey to keep it for the day since her food was already in there.
OP wrote, “I said ‘Hell, no,’ and they had five minutes to find something else to put her food in, or I would be dumping it out.”
Dumping the Bully’s Food
However, instead of finding a container to put Audrey’s lunch into, they just started arguing with OP. So, she did what she had to; she stood up, grabbed the bento box in front of them, and threw its contents into the trash can!
After that, she grabbed her daughter’s hand and left the office with the empty bento box, leaving the teacher and the principal to comfort Audrey.
It Could Always Be Replaced!
A few hours later, OP told her sister about what happened. Though her sister knew she meant well, she told OP it was not the right way to go about things.
According to OP, “She said that even though I had the right to be mad, I could’ve just let her have it, and she would’ve bought my daughter another bento box.”
It’s Just Not Right
However, for OP, this wasn’t even something she had to consider. In principle, why should they have to repurchase something for her daughter that she already had just because an entitled kid wanted what’s hers?
Tells of a Bully
Besides, it’s not like she left Audrey to starve since the school offers free lunches. OP also noted that her family could very well afford her own bento box, and she knows this because they live in a “fairly high-class” neighborhood.
OP added, “She took my daughter’s bento because she’s a bully.”
A Mom Who Doesn’t Care
After what OP did at the meeting, her daughter has never had problems with Audrey ever since. OP also tried to contact the girl’s mother to settle things, but she was “as insufferable as it gets.”
OP also went to Audrey’s mom multiple times to address the bullying, but she just reasoned, “Kids will be kids.”
In Need of a Better Environment
The school principal sincerely apologized, and they switched her daughter’s homeroom class, so she now has a new teacher whom she loves.
However, her daughter’s stay there won’t be long since she decided that at the end of the semester, she’d be switching her child to homeschool.
An Unjust System All Around Us
Though OP and her daughter received apologies from the principal, no other apologies were made on Audrey’s side. So, for OP, though some might think she went overboard, it was something she had to do.
In an update, she wrote, “You want me to reward a child who had made it a habit to verbally and physically attack my child by letting her have something that belongs to my daughter, and that’s not okay with me. Y’all want me to enable this little girl so badly, and I’m not. Y’all think just because she’s a kid, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, and that’s crazy to me.”
What Every Parent Should Do
OP also made it clear that any good parent would do what she did for her child, even if it meant facing backlash.
She said, “How am I entitled for wanting back what was bought for my kid? I feel like a lot of y’all are trolling by saying that. I don’t care if I have to act childish. For my kid, I would do anything. A lot of y’all are not parents, and it shows.”
Redditors’ Reactions
Many people wonder why Audrey and other bullies aren’t being held accountable for their actions and why the school, even their parents, tolerate them. For them, OP only did what they should have done!
A Redditor wrote, “Not the a**hole. No one seems to be holding Audrey accountable for her actions. You showed her that there could be consequences for bullying and stealing from your child. In that sense, you protected your daughter and provided Audrey with some needed discipline.”
The same person added, “It does seem bizarre to give a ‘not the a**hole’ judgment to an adult who threw away a child’s lunch. However, you’ve done every right thing you could trying to give your child a safe environment. Doing something wrong might have been the only way to improve the overall situation.”
What a Bad Parent!
The people of Reddit also pointed out the fact that Audrey’s mother isn’t doing anything despite knowing what her child has or might’ve done. They said that the parent is enabling and tolerating her bad behavior.
“Audrey, the teacher, and the principal learned valuable lessons. And your child learned that her mom always has her back. Also, let me get this straight. A parent sends their child to school, and she comes home with two lunchboxes—the one you sent her with and one that clearly has someone’s name on it. You, as a parent, decided, ‘Great, I’ll send my child to school the next day with lunch in some other kid’s lunchbox.’ So Audrey is a thief and a bully enabled by the teacher and her parents,” a commenter wrote.
Another person also said, “I would have said you were wrong, but what kind of parent knows their kid has someone else’s lunchbox with their name in it and sends their kid back to school the next day in the stolen lunchbox? And then, the school does nothing? Apparently, you are the only one sticking up for your daughter against this family of bullies. Not the a**hole. Good job, mom! The school can supply the little bully with lunch that day.”
Do you think OP is wrong? What would you do if someone bullied your kid?
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This post first appeared as A Mom Dumped Her Six-Year-Old’s Bully’s Food in the Trash After She Stole Her Bento Box. She’s Tired of the School’s Indifference, so She Took Matters Into Her Own Hands! on Quote Ambition.
