For any father to confront his son’s bully at school, would mean standing up for his son, and pulling up the bully and reprimanding him if necessary. But not for this dad, he took a more compassionate approach to confronting the problem.
Aubrey Fontenot was unhappy to hear that his 8-year-old son Jordan was being bullied at school by another boy- Tamarion – but instead of using the conventional approach, he invited the boy out for some one-on-one time together.
With permission from the boy’s family, he drove him in his car around Houston, Texas. While seated in the car, Aubrey gently asked Tamarion, why he was upset with Jordan.
Tamarion said that it was because he was being bullied by other kids at school for not wearing clean clothes. He then called the boy’s mother to confirm, and they revealed that they were homeless and had financial problems.
Aubrey immediately took Tamarion out for shopping as if he was buying them for his own son, and then they spent the rest of the drive laughing and singing to the radio.
“We have no clue what these children are going through these days because a lot of us just don’t care,” says Aubrey. “And this is not an uncommon story for a lot of people … so I spent a lot of my day yesterday shopping and teaching this young man about self-respect. Integrity. Morals. Confidence. And other things that consist of going from a troubled youth to a great man.”
Afterwards, Aubrey made Tamarion sit down with his son and talk things out. After a few awkward moments initially, the settled things as men and started a conversation. Now, the two are best friends.
The boys spend their days playing video games with each other at Aubrey’s tattoo shop and are also planning a sleepover in the future.
Aubrey has also started a GoFundMe page for Tamarion’s family, which has already raised almost $23,000 in just a few days.
“Things really turned out phenomenal,” says Aubrey, “more than I could ever imagined.”
This world needs more kind people like Aubrey in it, a little more kindness doesn’t hurt anybody.