I have only heard my daughter mention a few times that she felt bullied and I am the one using the word bullied. It was when a group of friends came over and she was out of the room.This friend goes into her bag and comes across her meter and such so he says"hey,I didn't know you had diabetes'..and later when he saw her in Wal-Mart yells out "hey,found a book for you-Diabetes for dummies ' it was hurtful to her and it made me sad and mad.
To be fair, it doesn't sound like he was mocking her for being diabetic, but for being a "dummy." Which I'm sure she's not! But if it wasn't diabetes, it would be something else.
My best friend has a son with a very unusual name, and he just started school. He's a bit younger than the other kids, and my friend was upset because the other kids made fun of him for being young. I asked her, "Do they make fun of his name?" She told me no, not that she knows of. And I said that he's doing well, then! Perfectly well-adjusted. But it's rough as a parent to hear kids being mean to your kid, cuz you can't help but feel the hurt that your child feels. But if you teach them to feel above the hurt, that particular brand of apathy is exactly what defines someone who is "cool" and does really well socially.
When I was in the 6th grade, Kurt Cobain killed himself and I was this li'l Nirvana-listening, grungy punky kid, and there were definitely some boys who would call me a "druggie." But they would not have come up with that without media influence. And although I felt like a real outcast then, two years later, those same boys were trying really hard to get me to go on a date with them.
hi Melissa,I sure hope he was not mocking..but when my daughter came home and told me the story- of how she was just trying to be a teen and hang out with her friends.Then hears this loud call out of her name to be followed by that,well not so kind...I came back to say that book is probably a good book that I might buy one day.The problem was the way he used it to pick on her...Thanks again Melissa and you are right about parents,we do feel those emotions :)
Oh, I wasn't denying that he was mocking her. He was DEFINITELY mocking her. Just not for being diabetic, instead for being a "dummy."
But he's the dummy!
thank you...I looked up a simple definition of the word bully-intimidate,tease,domineer,harass,threaten.....I think the word tease fits,he may just not have gotten it-that the saying-sticks and stones may break my bones,but words may never hurt me....we all know words can heal or hurt...
When I was in elementary school there was a girl who claimed that I would use my diabetes to get extra snacks. She also said I used it to get extra attention from my mom. This was before I really knew everything I needed to do to take care of my diabetes, so of course I went to my mom if I felt high or low, and of course I would get a snack if it was low. But it was just one girl, and she grew out of it pretty quickly. Otherwise most kids thought it was interesting. They liked learning about it, and I liked explaining it to them because then they understood better what I was dealing with. And then there were some of them who just liked watching me test my BG because there was blood involved, lol.
I think that if someone is being bullied because of their diabetes, then the bully is just very immature, and will hopefully grow out of it soon! Because that is ridiculous.
Not to make light of the situation, but things like this remind me of one of my favorite quotes, "Don't worry about what people think, as they seldom do," or, my school just did "The Wizard of Oz" as the musical this year, and at one point Scarecrow says something like, "I wish I had a brain," to which Dorothy replies, "Don't worry, a lot of people get along just fine without them."
But no, I've never felt bullied.
There is a girl in my class that isn't the most popular or polite person. whenever my pump will beep in class she will say " Olivia you're beeping!" in the snottiest most annoying voice i've ever heard. She got half the class laughing and I just ran strait to the bathroom (to get away from her). Later that day one of my friends told me that while i was in the bathroom her and 3 other friends stood up to her. It made me feel loads better but it didn't help as much as I thought it would. Anyway I now have to keep my insulin pump alarm on vibrate which sometimes results in me not hearing alarms such as "low resevior".
Besides that everything's good and there is always immature people in the world that will do something you wish they hadn't.
My dad always says " If it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger!" I pan on sticking to that saying for a while and I hope your child can get over it someday. He's the Dummy NOT her!