My youngest is being called a nerd..

[JoeChalupa]

Being ridiculed builds character.

It can also create murders. Yeah, I know that is extreme but I was watching 48 hours - hard evidence and saw the one about the red headed kid who killed a 5 yr old cause he was teased and ridiculed so much that he snapped.

[I Love Me Some Me]

I still don't get why kids so young can be so cruel. Aren't parents teaching their kids good morals anymore?

It's crazy how mean-spirited kids are.

My kids go to an after-school care program at a neighborhood daycare, and there's an autistic boy. Most of the kids are so mean to him...they pick on him, don't let him play games...they just go out of their way to make his life miserable. My daughter and my son (I'm so proud of them for this) have really taken a liking to him, and go out of their way to play with him and make sure he's not being mistreated (the teachers do it too). My daughter came home crying one day, not because of what they did to her, but because of how mean the kids are to the autistic boy.

[ORION]

I still don't get why kids so young can be so cruel. Aren't parents teaching their kids good morals anymore?

very few. Its a small town so you know parents because of various activities and I'm not surprised that some of these girls can make a hooker blush

[mrsmaalox]

It's crazy how mean-spirited kids are.

My kids go to an after-school care program at a neighborhood daycare, and there's an autistic boy. Most of the kids are so mean to him...they pick on him, don't let him play games...they just go out of their way to make his life miserable. My daughter and my son (I'm so proud of them for this) have really taken a liking to him, and go out of their way to play with him and make sure he's not being mistreated (the teachers do it too). My daughter came home crying one day, not because of what they did to her, but because of how mean the kids are to the autistic boy.

Very sad. That reminds me of when my son was in 3rd grade (he's 14 now) his school had a program where 2 or 3 kids from the Special Needs class were partnered with another kid from one of the mainstream classes. My son was selected to be a partner and was fine with it; they had classes, recess and lunch together one day each week. It was a total surprise at the end of the year when the mom of my son's partner gave the class a party in my son's honor; she was so grateful. Apparently her poor kid had never had any other student actually be nice to him!

[JoeChalupa]

It's crazy how mean-spirited kids are.

My kids go to an after-school care program at a neighborhood daycare, and there's an autistic boy. Most of the kids are so mean to him...they pick on him, don't let him play games...they just go out of their way to make his life miserable. My daughter and my son (I'm so proud of them for this) have really taken a liking to him, and go out of their way to play with him and make sure he's not being mistreated (the teachers do it too). My daughter came home crying one day, not because of what they did to her, but because of how mean the kids are to the autistic boy.

That is awesome.

[JoeChalupa]

Very sad. That reminds me of when my son was in 3rd grade (he's 14 now) his school had a program where 2 or 3 kids from the Special Needs class were partnered with another kid from one of the mainstream classes. My son was selected to be a partner and was fine with it; they had classes, recess and lunch together one day each week. It was a total surprise at the end of the year when the mom of my son's partner gave the class a party in my son's honor; she was so grateful. Apparently her poor kid had never had any other student actually be nice to him!

My daughter has also been partnered with another student to help with reading and spelling. She got a small token of appreciation from him for Christmas. It was very sweet.

[BacktoBasics]

It's crazy how mean-spirited kids are.

My kids go to an after-school care program at a neighborhood daycare, and there's an autistic boy. Most of the kids are so mean to him...they pick on him, don't let him play games...they just go out of their way to make his life miserable. My daughter and my son (I'm so proud of them for this) have really taken a liking to him, and go out of their way to play with him and make sure he's not being mistreated (the teachers do it too). My daughter came home crying one day, not because of what they did to her, but because of how mean the kids are to the autistic boy.

So the teachers treat this kid poorly? How? What do they do? Have you said anything? I don't think I could keep my mouth shut if I knew a grown adult was mistreating a child autistic or not.

[I Love Me Some Me]

So the teachers treat this kid poorly? How? What do they do? Have you said anything? I don't think I could keep my mouth shut if I knew a grown adult was mistreating a child autistic or not.

Yeah, I called the office immediately. I think it's kind of stopped a little bit. The mistreatment is nothing physical, but more in the passive way they just allow the other kids to do it. In fact, one of the teachers actually was laughing along with the kids. They don't do anything to ensure that he (the autistic kid) gets equal time on the video games/computers.

[ORION]

So the teachers treat this kid poorly? How? What do they do? Have you said anything? I don't think I could keep my mouth shut if I knew a grown adult was mistreating a child autistic or not.

I think he meant the teacher protects the child....at least I hope so

[Drachen]

It can also create murders. Yeah, I know that is extreme but I was watching 48 hours - hard evidence and saw the one about the red headed kid who killed a 5 yr old cause he was teased and ridiculed so much that he snapped.

Jeremy spoke in class today.

Look I tried to be cool all through elementary, and I guess I was a little at the Catholic school I went to, then when I went to public school in 4th grade, I wasnt. Anyway, I got to junior high and about halfway through my first year in JH (7th grade), I decided that being cool is too much work for me, and decided to just be a dork. That is what I am, it came much more natural to me. Did I take "heat" from the "cool" kids? Yeah, a little, but since I wasn't trying to be cool, I took a lot less since I was around them less and when I took it, I really didn't care, because my group of friends were what were important to me. It was really strange because once I got to the end of high school, I was one of the most popular kids at my school (granted it was a small school).

Joe, I hope your daughter can have such an epiphany earlier than I did because it really changed my entire world view and everything became a lot easier.

[CuckingFunt]

I still don't get why kids so young can be so cruel. Aren't parents teaching their kids good morals anymore?

This implies that their parents have good morals to start with.

[BacktoBasics]

Yeah, I called the office immediately. I think it's kind of stopped a little bit. The mistreatment is nothing physical, but more in the passive way they just allow the other kids to do it. In fact, one of the teachers actually was laughing along with the kids. They don't do anything to ensure that he (the autistic kid) gets equal time on the video games/computers.

I don't think I would be capable of keeping myself from a face to face confrontation with that teacher.

[JoeChalupa]

This implies that their parents have good morals to start with.

That is a true statement.

[JoeChalupa]

Jeremy spoke in class today.

Look I tried to be cool all through elementary, and I guess I was a little at the Catholic school I went to, then when I went to public school in 4th grade, I wasnt. Anyway, I got to junior high and about halfway through my first year in JH (7th grade), I decided that being cool is too much work for me, and decided to just be a dork. That is what I am, it came much more natural to me. Did I take "heat" from the "cool" kids? Yeah, a little, but since I wasn't trying to be cool, I took a lot less since I was around them less and when I took it, I really didn't care, because my group of friends were what were important to me. It was really strange because once I got to the end of high school, I was one of the most popular kids at my school (granted it was a small school).

Joe, I hope your daughter can have such an epiphany earlier than I did because it really changed my entire world view and everything became a lot easier.

Yeah, I never could pull off the being cool because I was a very skinny, big eared, black frame glasses wearing kid. It did change once I got a job in HS and worked with some of the hot babes who got to know me which helped me socially but I never really cared since I knew who my true friends were. I'm sure she'll be just fine.

[angel_luv]

Jeremy spoke in class today.

Look I tried to be cool all through elementary, and I guess I was a little at the Catholic school I went to, then when I went to public school in 4th grade, I wasnt. Anyway, I got to junior high and about halfway through my first year in JH (7th grade), I decided that being cool is too much work for me, and decided to just be a dork. That is what I am, it came much more natural to me. Did I take "heat" from the "cool" kids? Yeah, a little, but since I wasn't trying to be cool, I took a lot less since I was around them less and when I took it, I really didn't care, because my group of friends were what were important to me. It was really strange because once I got to the end of high school, I was one of the most popular kids at my school (granted it was a small school).

Joe, I hope your daughter can have such an epiphany earlier than I did because it really changed my entire world view and everything became a lot easier.

I agree with this.

I got made fun of quite a bit in middle school/ junior high.

In retrospect, the teasing only was for about a two year period, but it seemed MUCH longer than that and WAY more serious at the time.

I had the type epiphany Drachen described early in the eighth grade. It was the beginning the process of my learning to understand that no one is ever going to be 100 % pleasing to everyone.

I have been generally well liked and accepted for the most part of my life. While, for the most part, that has been a blessing, because I am used to being liked, I have sometimes taken it too hard when someone disliked me.

Life for me has been a continuous process of deciding priorities and discerning what really matters and who my real friends are.


Once I made peace with the facts that 1) I am a nerd ( have a quirky personality and sense of humor) and 2) have chia pet hair ( it grows to Diana Ross proportions in the humidity ) I was able to embrace those aspects of myself, so much so that I now consider my "oddities" to be my X-factors.

It helped me so much that my dad constantly told me that I was beautiful and that his daily advice to me was: " Don't let them get to you."


Joe: If I could offer any advice to your daughter it would be allow herself to be all God has made her to be and steadfastly disregard all comments and suggestions that interferes with her true purpose.

All the best to your daughter, Joe.

[mrsmaalox]

So the teachers treat this kid poorly? How? What do they do? Have you said anything? I don't think I could keep my mouth shut if I knew a grown adult was mistreating a child autistic or not.

My best friend is a Special Ed teacher at one of the school districts here in SA. She went back to work after being off several years to be with her boys; she also just completed her Master's degree last month. This is her 3rd year with this school district and she's now involved in a peer review of another Special Ed. teacher whose contract is unlikely to be renewed next year. This is the 3rd teacher in 3 years that she has forced the school district to make go away! And it's because the teachers were all blatantly emotionally abusive to the students. In the first case the teacher was actually witholding meals from an autistic student who did not complete his work! And the worst part is the administrators knew about for years, but never did anything about it. So now she's come in and had to make threats to the highest levels to get rid of these people. Needless to say she is not very popular at her school, but the kids love her!

[BacktoBasics]

I agree with this.

I got made fun of quite a bit in middle school/ junior high.

In retrospect, the teasing only was for about a two year period, but it seemed MUCH longer than that and WAY more serious at the time.

I had the type epiphany Drachen described early in the eighth grade. It was the beginning the process of my learning to understand that no one is ever going to be 100 % pleasing to everyone.

I have been generally well liked and accepted for the most part of my life. While, for the most part, that has been a blessing, because I am used to being liked, I have sometimes taken it too hard when someone disliked me.

Life for me has been a continuous process of deciding priorities and discerning what really matters and who my real friends are.


Once I made peace with the facts that 1) I am a nerd ( have a quirky personality and sense of humor) and 2) have chia pet hair ( it grows to Diana Ross proportions in the humidity ) I was able to embrace those aspects of myself, so much so that I now consider my "oddities" to be my X-factors.

It helped me so much that my dad constantly told me that I was beautiful and that his daily advice to me was: " Don't let them get to you."


Joe: If I could offer any advice to your daughter it would be allow herself to be all God has made her to be and steadfastly disregard all comments and suggestions that interferes with her true purpose.

All the best to your daughter, Joe.

A lot of words to simply say kids were mean until my boobs came in.

My best friend is a Special Ed teacher at one of the school districts here in SA. She went back to work after being off several years to be with her boys; she also just completed her Master's degree last month. This is her 3rd year with this school district and she's now involved in a peer review of another Special Ed. teacher whose contract is unlikely to be renewed next year. This is the 3rd teacher in 3 years that she has forced the school district to make go away! And it's because the teachers were all blatantly emotionally abusive to the students. In the first case the teacher was actually witholding meals from an autistic student who did not complete his work! And the worst part is the administrators knew about for years, but never did anything about it. So now she's come in and had to make threats to the highest levels to get rid of these people. Needless to say she is not very popular at her school, but the kids love her!

How is this so. How is someone not popular when they're trying to improve the system.

I cringe at the idea of homeschooling kids in their teens but I'm almost forced to consider it with how bad things are.

[I Love Me Some Me]

I don't think I would be capable of keeping myself from a face to face confrontation with that teacher.

We had a brief one, but not really confrontation. Just me telling him to get himself in check. Didn't really give him the opportunity to respond, since I wasn't all that interested in hearing what he had to say.

[desflood]

How is this so. How is someone not popular when they're trying to improve the system.

Read a book or two by John Taylor Gatto someday. The higher-ups don't necessarily want the system to be improved (and they don't want you to know that either).

[JoeChalupa]

I agree with this.

I got made fun of quite a bit in middle school/ junior high.

In retrospect, the teasing only was for about a two year period, but it seemed MUCH longer than that and WAY more serious at the time.

I had the type epiphany Drachen described early in the eighth grade. It was the beginning the process of my learning to understand that no one is ever going to be 100 % pleasing to everyone.

I have been generally well liked and accepted for the most part of my life. While, for the most part, that has been a blessing, because I am used to being liked, I have sometimes taken it too hard when someone disliked me.

Life for me has been a continuous process of deciding priorities and discerning what really matters and who my real friends are.


Once I made peace with the facts that 1) I am a nerd ( have a quirky personality and sense of humor) and 2) have chia pet hair ( it grows to Diana Ross proportions in the humidity ) I was able to embrace those aspects of myself, so much so that I now consider my "oddities" to be my X-factors.

It helped me so much that my dad constantly told me that I was beautiful and that his daily advice to me was: " Don't let them get to you."


Joe: If I could offer any advice to your daughter it would be allow herself to be all God has made her to be and steadfastly disregard all comments and suggestions that interferes with her true purpose.

All the best to your daughter, Joe.

Thank you. She knows God loves her.

[angel_luv]

A lot of words to simply say kids were mean until my boobs came in.

then people would have been mean to me until I was 22 or so.

[td4mvp21]

Kids are mean. I went to a private school and I was in the "in-crowd" and we were horrible to people we thought were nerdy or weird (in reality we were all weird private school kids). I really regret it but that's how kids are. There was one kid in particular who we teased relentlessly from 3rd to 4th grade and he ended up leaving. Everyone teased that kid-about his hair, about his glasses, about the way he walked, the way he talked, what he talked about. We would even come up with plans to make him cry! We were mean. People ended up making fun of me freshman year in high school so I think that was karma

[2Blonde]

Joe,
I'm glad your daughter was able to take something positive away from this thread. She is going to be a much stronger person for it in the end. We all want our children to be comfortable with who they are meant to be in life and you are pro-actively helping that process in your girls.

[I. Hustle]

When I was in 6th grade I was the short chubby kid that got picked on alot, then the summer between 6th and 7th came around and I stretched and was no longer chubby. I started hanging out with a certain group, grew my hair out, wore polo, guess, girbaud, and z. cavaricci (all stuff that I found at thrift stores and yard sales ssshhhhhh) and hooked up with a popular chick just because she was popular. After that I never looked back as far as my middle school/highschool years went.

[purist]

this has been going on a long time. I'm mid 40ish and it was happening when I was a kid, but especially from fellow hispanic classmates.

back then it was more of "if you try in school or try to better yourself, your trying to be white." Really, it seems to me that the at ude stems from an inferiority complex that is fostered among some cultures.

It's easier to rationalize faillure by painting success as "nerdy" or "being an oreo," or whatever.