My Boy... the Bully

*Knock* *Knock*
*Opens front door*
Little Girl: (sobbing) Bug smacked me. (sob, sob, sob)

Oh, Lord. I thought with taking him out of school to homeschool we were past this. Damn, damn, damn, damn.

Me: Okay, honey, I'll take care of it. BUG!
Bug: (with total look of guilt runs past and into the house)
Me: Why'd you hit her?
Bug: She tried to kiss me.

Trying my hardest not to smack myself in the head, I tell him to go sit upstairs and think about why it's not nice to hit. Impulsiveness is one of the hardest challenges we face with Bug. He gets the urge to do something, and he does it. That's the end of the discussion.

Does he feel bad afterwards? Not really. Does he know he should? Yes. He will apologize, too, but this has led Bug to be labeled a "bully", and one of the main reasons why we had to pull him from the private school he attended at the beginning of the school year.

Here are things we've tried:
Lecturing
Rewards for good behavior
Grounding
A pop on the butt
More lectures
Avoidance

Here are the things that haven't worked:
Lecturing
Rewards for good behavior
Ground
A pop on the butt
More lectures

Most of the time, avoidance is the only choice that we have. No, I'm not trying to make Bug a shut-in, but "normal" interaction with other children just isn't in the cards for him right now. For the most part, he just hangs out with Gnat. Listen, you've got to start somewhere.

It's awful. You get the phone call from the school saying that your child is being suspended the third week into KINDERGARTEN and you don't know what to do. Keep your head held high, and KEEP TRYING.

Also, lecture. It's droning, and it sucks, but up til we did pull him out of school, our morning drive consisted of the following conversation. It helped some, but not a lot:

Me: What is okay at school?
Bug: Playing quietly, sitting in our desk, not touching people...
Me: What isn't okay at school?
Bug: Hitting, kicking, biting, punching, pinching, throwing our pencil box, being mean...

It was a long list, that's only part of it. Keep it up. It gets better, I promise.