Well, I'll just say it......some kids are dumb.
You would think with the subject of bullying being in the media spotlight recently, that kids would at least try to be good. Or that parents would take a minute away from their jobs and their cell phones to have a conversation with their kids about not being a bully.
This apparently isn't true of one little girl that goes to school with Sydney. I'm talking about a 7 year old first grader. Really?! I thought this stuff didn't happen with girls until middle school, and then they just become "mean girls", like in the movie of the same name. I can handle name-calling and teasing, because it's easy to teach a kid to fight back verbally, but now it's become arm-squeezing and chest-punching in first grade.
One of the main topics of tomorrow's show talks about bullying. How do you stop your kid from becoming one? How do you prevent your kid from being bullied? Is it okay to tell them to fight back? Or do you let the school handle it?
I'd love to hear some feedback from you, after you've listened to the entire story!
My fifth grade year was awful. I was bullied mercilessly. It started when I saw a car driving down a dirt road near the playground...I had forgotten it was dirt, and yelled "Wow..look at that exhaust!" That's when the teasing started. The worst part about it was that these kids were my best friends up until that point. They made fun of me, wouldn't let me sit near their table at lunch, challenged me to fights...it was awful. I was terrified of fighting. I would wake up in physical pain, my stomach hurting from the thought of going to school to get beat up. Everyone, all of my friends, were against me...I had none. It was just kids being cruel, but affected me and I'll never forget it. The "fight" continued until the 6th grade...when they decided to be my friend again. Once I hit high school, I kept everyone away for fear of them just being mean to me. It caused lasting pain...I think I'm over it now. Not sure. But that's my fifth grade memory...and that's sad.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry that happened to you. No one, child or adult, should ever be made to feel like you did, and still do. It angers and upsets me to hear that you had such a terrible experience, and that it has carried over into your adult life. I think most of us were picked on in some way at some point in of our lives.....for me, I was picked on for being short. It sounds like I was one of the lucky ones because I knew I was short, I didn't care and the teasing didn't last long. Thank you for sharing your story, even though it was painful. -WC
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