Obese Kids Likely to Be Bullying Victims
Let me get this straight, obese kids are more likely to be teased and bullied and, as a result of that, are more likely to experience social and psychological problems and eventually become bullies themselves and the experts say it proves the importance of FIXING THE FAT KID? We should help the fat kids get skinny again so they won't be teased anymore? What about teaching the bullies about tolerance and acceptance of people who are different? What about teaching society that obese people are people, too, and have the right to be fat without being tormented for it? Why does everyone always expect the fat person to change in order to stop the torment? And what about ugly people? They can't change the looks they are born with and they are more likely to get teased and bullied too.
It seems to me that the real problem is the bigotry of people who think it's OK to pick on someone if they don't measure up to society's arbitrary standards. You've got to be skinny enough or pretty enough or tall enough or wealthy enough. Yes, obese kids need to get their weight under control for health reasons, but that doesn't change the fact that it is SOCIETY that needs to change in regards to the bullying and teasing that goes on. We need to start teaching our kids, and in some cases many adults, that it is NOT OK to pick on someone, be rude to someone, or treat someone poorly based on their body size or their appearance or the label on their clothes. A fat person should not have to lose weight in order to be treated with dignity!
For too long teasing has been thought of and treated as "just kids being kids," but it was wrong back then and it's even more wrong today. Teasing is ABUSE! If an adult did to a child what some of these other children do to a child during teasing, it would be considered child abuse. But because it's another child doing it, adults brush it off as just teasing, "part of growing up." They don't understand, the results are the same! The damage done to the one being teased is the same! The bullies forget it all and go on with their lives. The one who is bullied and teased lives with the damage for the rest of his or her life.
When I was a child, I was not obese. I wasn't fat at all. In fact, I was teased partly for being underweight and small for my age. I was ruthlessly ridiculed and humiliated by another child in my grade for many years. After repeated attempts to get my teachers to help me, I was told to "just ignore it and she would stop." Well, she DIDN'T stop and now, more than 25 years later, I still struggle with the emotional damage done to me. The girl who did it to me, doesn't even remember doing it. For her, it's over. For me, it will never be over. Back then, kids like me just lived with it, we had no other choice. Today, kids like me are coming back to school with guns and killing the classmates who tormented them. The answer isn't to fix the fat kid. The answer is to fix the attitude that says it's OK to torment the fat kid in the first place. Make the teasing stop!
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