Archive - May 20, 2009

Grade 2: A boy in my class told everyone my jacket was the colour of poop. He called me “Poop Coat” for the rest of the day. The other kids laughed hysterically. Naturally. I mean, they were eight and anything poop related was hilarious. I was obviously traumatized as I still remember this clearly, decades. Grade 6: My three-some of best girlfriends become a lonely party of one when the other two ditched me. I was devastated—stomach aches, didn’t want to go to school, cried my eyes out. Funny enough, one of those bitches and I patched things up the next school year and have been best friends ever since. I should really remind her of how lucky she is that I forgave her. Kids can be mean. Even the kindhearteds can get sucked into a teasing vortex. When I was teaching I was shocked by how quickly things could go bad. Recess could quickly turn into The Lord of the Flies, with sticks and everything. Until I blew my whistle and confiscated the sticks. Children can be like a pack of wild animals – the predators sniff out and circle the weak, ready to attack. When MY child is[…]