A Tough Time of Things

My son got suspended today for getting into a scuffle at school. One day. A slap is all it is. Again, I am very proud of him as a person. But he is still a kid and has a lot to learn about how to respond to other people. As I have recently said, he is a fantastic kid. He has a great sense of fairness and a giving soul. But other kids razz him. A lot. And frankly, he doesn't know how to handle it. They're 14 years old, what can I tell him? How do you get these little punks to stop? They don't stop. When you get all those kids in one building, only supervised and motivated by a few adults, it's a breeding ground for disrespect. And Austin, the quiet, shy kid who oozes respect, gets dragged into the middle of it.