Even Kindergarten is Tough

I think Sammy's having a tough time with school. He's been complaining about his belly hurting for the past week and he's woken up in the middle of the night for the past three nights. This is extremely bizarre because he's always been that happy go lucky kid who loves everything and everyone around him. It's tough when you are a parent and you feel so helpless. I've felt helpless before with the kids (the first time I held them), but never to this extent. I wish there was something that this Wise Old Father could do or say that would snap him out of it but really - I'm just dumbfounded.

We have some ideas about why he may be upset, but we don't really know for sure. It may be the transition to Kindergarten, or because his best friend has gone to another school, but we tend to think that he is getting picked on by several of the kids in the class. He keeps talking about a couple of the kids in his class and how he doesn't like them. We have not told the teacher yet but that's probably the next step. Sometimes - Robby and James gang up on him at home and he has always had an issue with people pushing him around or putting him down (who doesn't?). He won't share what's going on at school with us, though, so we don't really know. We're also trying to NOT push him too hard to tell us in hopes that he'll open up on his own. Who knows the right approach...

I think that I feel so much more helpless this time because I sympathize with him so closely. I mean - I'm only one year removed from being sick every morning because I hated going to my job. My solution was simple - find another job... but he doesn't have that option. I remember being a kid and getting my ears flicked because they stuck so far out from my head. I remember how cruel kids can be at a very young age. I'm sure that there were kids that took more shit than I, but to this day I don't deal well with confrontation or with bullies.

It's sad to watch him go through this. Right now - all I can give is love. He's a strong kid and this to shall pass, I'm sure. I don't know what I would have done at 2 years old if, all of a sudden, I had 4 little brothers and sisters to deal with.