Steve Kroll
Wine Guy
Geez, all this was just silly string on Joy? When I saw the title I got a tear in my eye thinking "Cat came home from school and found DA had passed on???" Phew, so DA is OK then, right?
Let me give you a different view of this silly string stuff. Sure they might have done it as a prank to be funny or mean - I don't know, I can't read their minds. But when our kids were in high school (1995-1999) it was a big thing to get your yard toilet-papered. Mostly your classmates did it to let you know you were part of their crowd. Our son was always disappointed when the school year came and went and he didn't get TP'd. Well let me tell you, he went to a school that was 25 miles from our home and the only transportation was if we drove. Finally, after 3+ years of football/track/wrestling/mock debate team/etc our yard finally got toilet-papered! The reason it took so long? The kids in his class had to be old enough to get drivers' licenses and pay for the car insurance and gas before they could go 25 miles! Whenever one of the kids from school got TP'd the same kids would show up the next day to clean up. Fun, plus not trouble to the person draped in paper. Heck, they even all got together and did it to the football coach's house at the end of the season.
Maybe your classmates were trying to initiate you. Maybe not. But if there is a next time with them pranking you, if they are around just smile, straighten your shoulders and stand tall, and say "OK, you had your fun. Now come help me clean this up, OK?" If you say it with a strong voice and a firm look in your eye they might help...but they probably won't ever mess with you again.
I think this is good advice. My BIL lives in a town where there is a tradition of students leaving a golden toilet in the front yard of the homecoming king's house. I don't think my BIL was aware of the tradition when he found a toilet sitting in his own yard one autumn morning. Tim was mad as heck that someone would put garbage in his yard, until his son explained that it was only because he had been selected homecoming king. Then, rather than being a source of anger, it became a source of pride.
There are pranks born out of spitefulness and pranks born out of fun. It's hard to tell which type Cat's classmates belong to. These young people may have meant to bully her, but it could also have been an awkward, misguided attempt to include her in their group, without realizing it would make her very upset. Considering they could get into serious trouble for vandalizing someone's car, I can't imagine these kids owning up to the crime as they did, unless they though Cat would also enjoy the joke.
I have a daughter in college. I could honestly see some of her friends doing something like silly-stringing her car as a joke (although she is the type who would make them clean it off afterwards).
Not saying it was right, but things aren't always as they seem on the surface, and there are two sides to every story.