RangerPooh
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2005
Acne, weight, clothes.... I hated upper elementary, junior high, and parts of high school.
My biggest tormentor still lives in our small town on the prairie of Minnesota. I harbor this belief that maybe someday she will apologize to me for being so awful to me (we share some mutual friends on social media), but I'm not holding my breath. I still remember the awful feeling when she asked (sweet as syrup) to borrow my sweater in music class, put it on, and proceeded to laugh and carry on about how UGLY and AWFUL the sweater was, and who would wear such a thing, etc." It was one of many times I was reduced to tears. I never wore that sweater again, but it was one my mother had lovingly sourced at a garage sale....and I DID like it because of what it represented. The incredible love and resourcefulness of my mother in trying to make me "fit in" on a budget of pennies and dimes. But, that evil classmate ruined it for me.
my oldest son is definitely on the small side, and has to deal with bullies, and it breaks my heart. Dumping out his backpack, name calling, etc. For the longest time, he didn't even tell us about it. We've tried all the strategies you can try. Walk away. Ignore. Make jokes. Turn them in. School admin really can't help ...
They should be able to help, but in his case, the teacher handled it with the tact of a gnat. She approached the kids and effectively said, wilbret jr says you did this to him. How do you think that worked out? Several of his friends left the school because of the bullying. Admin was ineffective.Yes they can.
But they do not have the courage to do so. They do not have the political will or backing to take serious and effective steps to do so.
Instead they might have a random poster in the hallways or classroom urging students not to bully. There might even be an assembly with the student body where bullying is mentioned and discouraged. These are tiny efforts at controlling bullying. The administration can ensure much more is done.
They do not.
I am with you mnrose-I have a disability that came from a freak accident and even though it wasn't visible, the kids knew it was was there. Strange, but I had good friends in the class below mine but my classmates were cruel. I will not go to a class reunion although people do change, I don't want to revisit anything high school related. There was definitely a learning curve that is for sure. Today I am successful and have a beautiful family and couldn't ask for a better life!Nothing light hearted about this thread. I was mercilessly teased in junior high and into about 11th grade. It was absolutely brutal. I was gawky, awkward, poor, and insanely intelligent. A very bad combination. You name it. It happened to me. So, sorry, there's nothing lighthearted about being "made fun of."
I'm sorry that happened to you.If you can be "light-hearted" about this topic, even from a distance, then you really didn't experience being picked on.
In my case, it was sexual harassment. To this day, I have no idea what triggered it, but it started happening when I was 12, very shortly after my father died, and did not let up for a single day for the next 6 years. We even moved across 2 states, and it started right up again just the same in the new place. The rumors that were spread about me in that fairly small town assured that EVERYONE just "knew what I'd been doing" even though I *did* nothing at all. I had no social life whatsoever; I was home with my mom every night. The final insult was graffiti in letters 8 feet tall on the town water tower -- THAT stayed there for 5 years after I left (on a Trailways bus, the morning after my HS graduation.) To this day, over 30 years later, those spurious rumors are taken as fact in that town. (The interesting thing is that, once I moved to a major city, I never experienced it again on a personal level. Catcalls in the street, yes, but not the sort of persistent persecution that I lived with as an adolescent.)
Needless to say, my kids catch holy hell if I get wind of them trafficking in rumors. Also, my DH was once offered a very nice job in a small town; I told him that if he took it he'd be moving there alone.
If you can be "light-hearted" about this topic, even from a distance, then you really didn't experience being picked on.
In my case, it was sexual harassment. To this day, I have no idea what triggered it, but it started happening when I was 12, very shortly after my father died, and did not let up for a single day for the next 6 years. We even moved across 2 states, and it started right up again just the same in the new place. The rumors that were spread about me in that fairly small town assured that EVERYONE just "knew what I'd been doing" even though I *did* nothing at all. I had no social life whatsoever; I was home with my mom every night. The final insult was graffiti in letters 8 feet tall on the town water tower -- THAT stayed there for 5 years after I left (on a Trailways bus, the morning after my HS graduation.) To this day, over 30 years later, those spurious rumors are taken as fact in that town. (The interesting thing is that, once I moved to a major city, I never experienced it again on a personal level. Catcalls in the street, yes, but not the sort of persistent persecution that I lived with as an adolescent.)
Needless to say, my kids catch holy hell if I get wind of them trafficking in rumors. Also, my DH was once offered a very nice job in a small town; I told him that if he took it he'd be moving there alone.
Sending hugs to you. I cannot believe the school didn't take this more seriously and go after the kids who were harassing you. I hope you have the peace in your life that you deserve.If you can be "light-hearted" about this topic, even from a distance, then you really didn't experience being picked on.
In my case, it was sexual harassment. To this day, I have no idea what triggered it, but it started happening when I was 12, very shortly after my father died, and did not let up for a single day for the next 6 years. We even moved across 2 states, and it started right up again just the same in the new place. The rumors that were spread about me in that fairly small town assured that EVERYONE just "knew what I'd been doing" even though I *did* nothing at all. I had no social life whatsoever; I was home with my mom every night. The final insult was graffiti in letters 8 feet tall on the town water tower -- THAT stayed there for 5 years after I left (on a Trailways bus, the morning after my HS graduation.) To this day, over 30 years later, those spurious rumors are taken as fact in that town. (The interesting thing is that, once I moved to a major city, I never experienced it again on a personal level. Catcalls in the street, yes, but not the sort of persistent persecution that I lived with as an adolescent.)
Needless to say, my kids catch holy hell if I get wind of them trafficking in rumors. Also, my DH was once offered a very nice job in a small town; I told him that if he took it he'd be moving there alone.