Post by statlerwaldorf on Oct 12, 2012 20:07:09 GMT -5
I was bullied all through school although I only went to high school for one year. There were about 50 kids in my grade when I started and maybe 150 by the time I graduated. I was overweight and an easy target. I lost a lot of weight during middle school and then I was bullied for losing weight. My family was very poor and I was constantly made fun of for my clothes. Either wearing the same shirt too often or not wearing popular styles. I had no friends until high school. I was really depressed and thought about suicide. I had no self esteem and was pretty shy. I still struggle with my self esteem.
I was friendless from 2nd-4th grade and bullied 6th-11th grade.
I have cerebral palsy and kids can be mean idiots. It was two boys in 6th-7th grade, one boy 8th-11th grade and a smattering of small short term bullies that joined in with the main ones to be seen as cool by said main bullies (cool kids).
One of the bullies from 6th-7th came up and apologized in 10th grade. I've never been more shocked. I finally grew a spine in 11th grade and told off the last bully. It was an awesome moment. ;D
In fact, quite the opposite. Growing up, I was the nice one in a group of Mean Girls. I finally separated myself from the group by going to a different high school. I hated how awful my clique made other people feel.
I can tell you from personal experience that unless you actively spoke out when your friends were bullying other kids, at least some people remember you as being a bully.
apparently this is still a touchy subject for me (lame!)
I can tell you from personal experience that unless you actively spoke out when your friends were bullying other kids, at least some people remember you as being a bully.
apparently this is still a touchy subject for me (lame!)
I did speak out, and have ran into past classmates since then. We're friends now. In high school, I expanded my social circles and learned to speak out sooner when someone was getting picked on.
I don't want you to feel badly! I just think it's an important thing to point out. As adults (who either interact with kids in some capacity or have our own) I believe we need a zero tolerance policy on bullying. In my eyes this includes conversations with the kids who sit by and watch the bullying day in and day out.
I was bullied in the younger grades. I had a brain tumor as a child and as a result of the radiation treatment, I had (and still have to an extent) problems with speech (my voice has always been different since my initial surgery) and balance problems. I got made fun of alot for my voice and for other stupid things like not being able to do things that other kids could do. Sometimes even today people ask me if I have a cold or am losing my voice because I sound different, and even though I know they are not trying to be rude it still upsets me, but I just shake it off now. But for a long time I was ashamed of my brain tumor and I would not even admit that it happened at all. Now I can at least talk about it and am sometimes even proud of what I overcame.
yes in 5th and 6th grade by the "popular girls". Mostly for being overweight, developing acne early, not dressing trendy, not listening to the right music (someone mentioned the Cranberries once and I thought they were talking about the fruit, I listened to oldies!) A little bit first half of 7th grade by some boys but at that point I had a solid group of friends developing from my church youth group and I shrugged it off. By 8th grade I had lots of friends in different groups.
most of the girls I was bullied by during elementary school went to a different jr. high. We then went to the same high school and one of them even apologized for how she treated me and we got along great, were Pres/Vice Pres of French Club together.
I was somewhere in the middle. If I was being bullied or my friends were being bullied, I definitely stood up to them - sometimes to guys much bigger than me. But there was one girl I avoided - she scared me. And my sister was bullied and I never defended her . Which sucks.
There were two bullies at our hs reunion. One hid the entire time, basically. The other -- the one I feared - is now a cop with a tanning addiction and a bad, bad boob job.
What scares me is I see 5 and 6 year olds that already act like bullies. Overall, I would say their parents have one characteristic in common which is that they are big time pushovers. Of course, a hell of a lot could change. And my mom was a pushover (a bit) and I was not a bully.
I was bullied from 2nd grade through 8th grade. I think it pretty much stopped in high school, mostly because I was in nearly all honors classes and no longer interacted with many kids in my grade because they were in different classes than me. There was a group of probably 50 kids that I had all my high school classes with and thankfully they were too mature by then to be bullies. We never really were friends, though.
I was new to town in 2nd grade and very shy. I loved to read and didn't love talking to new people, so that immediately made me unpopular and I got teased a lot. I don't remember a lot of it clearly, but I know some of it involved spitting on me on the bus and a lot of name calling. I don't recall any physical bullying at any point, thankfully.
I had 1 good friend through elementary school and no one liked her either so we basically stuck together. Our parents always wanted us to "branch out" but neither of us knew how and no one liked us anyway. I'm sure the two of us sticking together didn't help our popularity or image that we weren't weird, though.
8th grade sticks out the most to me, in science class there was a group of boys who picked on me daily and told me I was fat, ugly, and had no breasts (not really true on any account, but whatever). The "popular" kids always made other comments about boys not wanting to date me, asking if I was a lesbian, telling me I was fat, etc. It was pretty awful and I think it really set me on the wrong path as far as self confidence in my appearance goes. Thankfully I never developed an eating disorder or other severe emotional issue from it, but I have rarely felt beautiful or thin in my entire life. Maybe I wouldn't have even without bullying, but it makes me angry that I was treated that way so early and never had a chance to make my own decision about the value of my appearance.
In high school I also was more willing to stand up for myself. I don't recall being bullied in school at that point, but my best friend's twin brother was friends with some of the worst bullies so I'd often see them at her house. I started fighting back and they backed off pretty quickly. It is too bad I was always advised up until that point to ignore bullies....I don't think ignoring works at all!
One of my 8th grade bullies died earlier this year. I love the idea that the kids who are bullied will grow up to be the boss of the bullies someday, but IDK if that's always true. I guess I've lost track of many of the mean kids but I find it unlikely that I'm living the high life and they're not.
I went to public school, relatively small town, I think there were always 200-300 in my grade. I don't know why teachers didn't do more to stop bullying in class when there were only 30 kids around and you could hear everything. I think that is completely ridiculous. My family couldn't afford to dress me in all abercrombie and american eagle but we had enough money for me to dress acceptably and participate in activities so I don't think economic status was a factor in bullying at my schools.