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When this father heard that his son was being bullied at school, he took a more compassionate approach to confronting the problem.
At first, Aubrey Fontenot was angry to hear that his 8-year-old son Jordan was being picked on at school by another boy named Tamarion—but instead of fighting fire with fire, he decided to invite the boy out for some one-on-one time together.
With permission from Tamarion’s family, Aubrey picked the boy up in his car and drove him around Houston, Texas. As they sat in the car, Aubrey gently asked Tamarion about why he was fighting with Jordan.
To the father’s surprise, Tamarion said that it was because other kids were bullying him at school for not having clean clothes. A quick phone call to the boy’s mother revealed that the family was homeless and having trouble finding financial stability.
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Without hesitation, Aubrey took Tamarion out shopping for new clothes as if he was buying for his own son. Afterwards, the two spent the rest of their car ride laughing and singing along 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.”
Then, Aubrey sat Tamarion down across from his son and asked them to talk things out. Though the two boys initially spent a few minutes awkwardly sitting across from each other, Aubrey eventually got them to “settle things as men” and start a conversation.
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Now, the boys are best friends.
Jordan and Aubrey have been spending their days playing video games with each other at Aubrey’s tattoo shop – they are even planning a sleepover for the near future.
Additionally, Aubrey started a GoFundMe page for Tamarion’s family – and in just a few days, it has raised almost $23,000.
“Things really turned out phenomenal,” says Aubrey, “more than I could ever imagined.”
(WATCH the sweet montage below)
spent some time with my sons school bully yesterday .. just to dig a little deeper on”why?” .. come to find out he was being bullied for not having clean clothes n clean shoes.. I asked “why?” .. just to find out that his family is currently homeless??♥️?✊?I had to do Something pic.twitter.com/IY29lgChqY
— TattooArtistAubrey (@illuminaubrey_) October 17, 2018
Pass On This Sweet Story Of Compassion To Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Aubrey Fontenot
More people should take a lesson from him. Thanks for a great story.