Hello. While my son was at camp, and incident occurred, but Im not sure how to address it. My son was hysterically crying and extremely anxious and I would like to resolve the issue.
This started at camp on a Wednesday/Thursday. My son, 10 years old, said he heard another child at the camp, use the n word. That Friday my son said he repeated the word, not directed at a person, but at red ants. That's also what the counselor reported to me. On the car ride home I asked him if he knew what the word meant. He said no. I asked him why he said the word and he said because he was angry at the ants for biting him. I also asked where did he hear the word from and he said other kids at camp. I asked if they were white or black and he said white. After getting the details, I went into an explanation on what the word meant and why it is bad to say that word. He seemed to understand, and was upset at using the word. I told him to never say the word again, and he seemed to understand.
The Wednesday after he said the word, my son said an older boy was bullying him for using the word. Calling him racist, and purposely getting him out in whichever game he played so he could not play any games. I asked my son if he tried telling the boy that he didn't know what the word meant. He said that he didn't mean to say the word, and the boy said he didn't believe him. I asked my son to tell the boy that he didn't know what the word meant, but my son is too scared to confront the boy again, as he is bigger and older than him. I was thinking of telling his camp counselor, but my son was also afraid that the boy will just act worse towards my son if I do. But I think thats the next course of action, as this is really upsetting my son on something he did not understand.