The moment when Aubrey Fontenot broke the ice with his son's bully certainly wasn't easy. But it was worth it.
The moment when Aubrey Fontenot broke the ice with his son's bully certainly wasn't easy. But it was worth it.
It all began when Fontenot said he noticed a downward spiral in his 8-year-old son Jordan's daily school progress reports. He said they showed Jordan kept on having trouble with it with one kid in particular — 11-year-old Tamarion.
Fontenot said he met with school officials several times, but nothing got accomplished. The breaking point came when Jordan's phone went missing.
So Fontenot decided to take matters into his own hands, he told InsideEdition.com
“[Tamarion's] mom came to the school. And once that happened, I just said, 'Hey ... do you mind if I reach out to your son?' And she said, 'No, I don't have a problem with that.'
"So I talked to him and I got a good feel of the pain he'd been going though. You could tell it wasn't an abuse thing or anything like that. He was just embarrassed. He was hurt. And I could tell it was becoming a bit much for him," Fontenot said.
It turned out Tamarion's family had recently fallen on hard times and was homeless.
“He was like, 'I don't have clean clothes. Or my shoes. They make fun of my shoes a lot," Fontenot recalled.
"I just said, 'I'm sorry that you had to go through that. I'm sorry my son has to go through this too. How about the day that you’re suspended, why don't you come spend time with me? We're gonna talk, we're gonna have a conversation. You'll talk to my son,'" Fontenot said he told Tamarion.
Fontenot ended up taking Tamarion shopping for new clothes and shoes. He also sat the two kids down to hash out their issues. At the end of that conversation, a friendship began.
“I've been through some of the same things," Fontenot said when asked what made him show such kindness. "When I was young, kids used to make fun of my clothes because I like different stuff and you know, kids can be mean. They're ruthless sometimes. And they don't know how far they're taking it sometimes."
He added: "I know how far a little bit of help can go.”
Since Fontenot shared the story on social media, a little bit of help has snowballed into a lot, including a GoFundMe page for Tamarion's family that's raised more than $31,000.
Then came another treat, courtesy of the Houston Texans. The trio — Fontenot, Jordan and Tamarion — went to a game and got the VIP treatment.
Now, Fontenot said he looks at Tamarion like his own child.
"He's definitely in the family. I was just brushing his hair and I was just looking at him like, 'I'm proud of you,'” Fontenot said, with a laugh.
The incident has inspired Fontenot to start a nonprofit focusing on bullies and the bullied. He also hopes to write a children's book to help other parents and kids cope with similar situations, he said.
"I couldn't be more grateful that God allowed this to play out how it did," he added.
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