Plausible Deniabilty

Ever received a phone call about your child and uttered the phrase "not my child!"? Well, I haven't. I keep an open mind. I assume the parent dreads making the call as much as I dread receiving it. So, when a friend emailed me to inform me that Sara had cursed at recess, I believed her and had a long talk about language. I have had to make 2 such phone calls in my life. One was when a younger girl was bad mouthing Sara on the bus. I checked around, verified the story with a couple other parents and called the mother. She immediately explained that her daughter does not have a mean bone in her body and would never say anything negative about anyone ever. Move over, Jesus. There is a new saint in town. Ironically, the teasing stopped after the phone call. The other call was made tonight. A former classmate of Sara has taken her bullying show on the road. Not satisfied with attempting to ostracize Sara at school, she is attempting to alienate neighbor kids as well. We politely asked that their child keep out of Sara's friendships and maybe not badmouth her to others. Silly us. We forgot how perfect and flawless their child is. Wouldn't you know, without even checking into the story, the mom flat out denied it. I have news for you, lady. We dreaded making the phone call. We should have made the phone call months ago the first time we heard this was going on. We foolishly thought grownups would be reasonable. No such luck. Luckily, the girls seem to be able to rise above this nonsense and choose their own friends. I don't want to turn our suburban neighborhood into the Sharks and Jets but I'm not going to let my kid be bullied anymore.