L.E.
When my son's reports of how other kids treated him in preschool sounded suspicious, I spent a couple days in his classroom to see for myself. Kids' reports can either be over reactions or under reactions. It was very valuable for me to do this. The teacher was not connecting the dots between the little tiffs my son and some kids were getting into every day and the fact that my son was hiding under tables and wetting his pants. My son reported things as "My friends and I play hitting games sometimes". So I went in the classroom twice and saw for myself how all the kids and the teachers were interacting and as an observer I was able to see what the teachers were not able to see because their attentions were pulled so many directions. I saw how certain kids in the class really were bullying and my son wasn't the only target. I saw how my son tried to tell the teacher and she couldn't hear him over the noise. I saw him forget that I was there and hide to get away from the little girl who randomly hit people all over the room. I heard the way the teachers interacted with the children. I got a general idea of the good and bad of the situation and better understood what my son was trying to tell me. Then I knew what action needed to be taken and I also could interpret my son's behavior better for the teachers. You can do the same in a kindergarten classroom. They love parents coming in to help!