any advice would be greatly appreciated.

my son goes to a small catholic school 30 boys total. for the last two years i coached his basketball team and grew quite close to most of his friends. i am a single parent and have been financially hurt by divorce 6 years ago. we have lived in a very affluent neighborhood and i rent a ranch and drive an old car.

i thought what was a good relationship with his friends over the many years seems to have soured last year with one of his friends. during a basketball practice the one boy who was new to the school started boasting how good he was. i had him play a 3 on 3 and he got beat. i tried to use this as a lesson.

now there is this undercurrent against my son where they are badmouthing me, making up names for me, taking pictures of my car and texting them. it has really bothered my son. one other parent said this all comes from how the kids are being parented.

i have a couple options, 1. go to the school/parish and bring it up 2. bring it up with the coach of the team now who i am friends with (however his son is one of the instigators) 3. just work with my son on it.

although its just a handful of kids that have jumped on board, he feels overwhelmed and embarassed.

i would like to tell him that

1. a mans character is not determined by the size of his house/car
2. take a look at what the kids parents are teaching them
3. this thing will blow over and what goes around comes around
4. not all kids are like that

any thoughts?