Rude child in school

I received an email from my younger son W's teacher this week. It seems he's been very rude to her over the past week or two. He had to stay in during recess recently and then last week he suggested that a student "peg" a foam dice at the teacher.

I was very apologetic to the teacher and we had a talk with W.   We realized that his desire to be the class clown and amuse everyone was probably leading to him being rude.  We told him to stop trying to be funny and be more respectful. We took away his video games for a week and we made him write a letter. Having to write the letter was what made him cry, especially when we made him write a few drafts. "Dear Miss W., I'm sorry I said to peg the dice at you. I was trying to be funny. Now I realize it's not funny. I like your class. Love, W."  It was actually a pretty nice letter. 

We told W. that he's a nice boy but that when he behaves like that no one will be able to tell that he's a nice boy. We also told him that being disrespectful to teachers is not a smart thing to do since they are the ones who give you grades.  If you talked like that at work, what do you think would happen? we asked.  "You'd get fired," he said. I guess he knows about this.

I wonder if our bickering leads to this bad behavior. I don't want to think that that's it and I don't think it's the primary factor although we do seem to have a hostile sense of humor in our household. Sigh.  It's always something with these kids.