Would that be Nick or AJ?
My 7 year old daughter has hurt feelings.
Why? You ask. Well, I'll tell you.
She has just experienced the drama and tragedy of being teased by an older boy.
It all started with some mention of her getting in trouble on the bus yesterday. I tried to get out of her exactly what happened, but finding out coherent details from a 7 year old is sometimes a little challenging. It had something to do with passing notes and possibly standing up while doing this.
Anyway, she asked me if she could now be car rider. First I have to make mention of the fact that my daughter fought me tooth and nail to even get the "privilege" of riding the bus in the first place. I was a little nervous about sending her off on the Big Yellow Screaming and Jumping Kid Carrying Machine. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it was the visions of mangled bus wrecks and sexual assaults and drag out fist fights that have been portrayed in the media to have occurred on buses over the past couple of years. However, I rode the bus and I turned out okay. But I never really had a choice, you just rode the bus in those days. Well, at least until high school when you befriended older kids preferably with their own cars so that you can catch a ride to and from school. I finally relented and decided to let her ride the bus. I know I can't always protect her from the Big Bad World. And things have been fine until this incident.
Well, during this conversation about getting in trouble on the bus I was able to get the gist of the dynamics that might be contributing to my daughter's newfound juvenile deliquency. She has an assigned seat on the bus and has to sit in the back. Now, when I was growing up the back of the bus was where the cool troublemakers sat. You were farthest out of the bus driver's view so you could shoot birds with impunity at the motorists behind you without being detected.
I asked her if she could see if the bus driver would let her sit up towards the front because sitting in the back seemed to be bothering her from the hodgepodge of information I was gathering. She then begins to tear up and tells me that there is something that happened before that she had not told me. Of course possible scenarios race through my mind, and of course the worst thoughts. Did someone hurt her? Did someone touch her inappropriately?
Anyway, she finally tells me after coaxing and prodding what's bothering her. Evidently, Will, a 5th grader, told her that she looked like one of the Backstreet Boys.
The HORROR!
I tried really hard not to chuckle about this. So this is what passes for taunting and teasing these days? A couple of things occurred to me. Okay, why would a a 10 year old boy pick the Backstreet Boys as a reference for making fun of an innocent little girl? Besides, how are today's 10 year olds still in to the Backstreet Boys? Is it that the country kids my daughter is attending school with are that behind the times that they use defunct boy bands from the 1990s as ammunition for put downs? I can't begin to analyze what is going through the mind of a 10 year old redneck kid, besides I had some feelings to mend.
So I asked my daughter if she even knew who the Backstreet Boys were. She of course did not. I told her then it really wasn't that bad to be compared to pretty boys who could sing and dance at the same time. She didn't buy this. I asked her why it bothered her and she said it was because he had said she looked like a boy. Now my daughter does not look like a boy and I know I see her through mother eyes but she is just as cute as a button.
It made me remember the teasing I endured from pesky little boys. Chris Henry couldn't resist calling me Skinny Minnie when I would walk by his table in the lunch room. Donald Sunny couldn't help but tease me with Polish jokes. My uncles use to give me put downs to dish back to him-like did you hear about the Pollock who rented his basement of his outhouse to the German-which is the nationality that my uncles assumed Donald Sunny was. Ooooo....That got him! I know you are but what am I? My Dad's take on it was that was how boys acted when they liked you. Yuck!
I tried to give my daughter the best Mom Advice-just ignore them. Who am I kidding? Let's fight fire with fire. What she needs is an obscure reference to use to make fun of this kid.
I propose that she compare him to one of the members of Kajagoogoo. My husband suggested the Spice Girls. Any other ideas?
Why? You ask. Well, I'll tell you.
She has just experienced the drama and tragedy of being teased by an older boy.
It all started with some mention of her getting in trouble on the bus yesterday. I tried to get out of her exactly what happened, but finding out coherent details from a 7 year old is sometimes a little challenging. It had something to do with passing notes and possibly standing up while doing this.
Anyway, she asked me if she could now be car rider. First I have to make mention of the fact that my daughter fought me tooth and nail to even get the "privilege" of riding the bus in the first place. I was a little nervous about sending her off on the Big Yellow Screaming and Jumping Kid Carrying Machine. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it was the visions of mangled bus wrecks and sexual assaults and drag out fist fights that have been portrayed in the media to have occurred on buses over the past couple of years. However, I rode the bus and I turned out okay. But I never really had a choice, you just rode the bus in those days. Well, at least until high school when you befriended older kids preferably with their own cars so that you can catch a ride to and from school. I finally relented and decided to let her ride the bus. I know I can't always protect her from the Big Bad World. And things have been fine until this incident.
Well, during this conversation about getting in trouble on the bus I was able to get the gist of the dynamics that might be contributing to my daughter's newfound juvenile deliquency. She has an assigned seat on the bus and has to sit in the back. Now, when I was growing up the back of the bus was where the cool troublemakers sat. You were farthest out of the bus driver's view so you could shoot birds with impunity at the motorists behind you without being detected.
I asked her if she could see if the bus driver would let her sit up towards the front because sitting in the back seemed to be bothering her from the hodgepodge of information I was gathering. She then begins to tear up and tells me that there is something that happened before that she had not told me. Of course possible scenarios race through my mind, and of course the worst thoughts. Did someone hurt her? Did someone touch her inappropriately?
Anyway, she finally tells me after coaxing and prodding what's bothering her. Evidently, Will, a 5th grader, told her that she looked like one of the Backstreet Boys.
The HORROR!
I tried really hard not to chuckle about this. So this is what passes for taunting and teasing these days? A couple of things occurred to me. Okay, why would a a 10 year old boy pick the Backstreet Boys as a reference for making fun of an innocent little girl? Besides, how are today's 10 year olds still in to the Backstreet Boys? Is it that the country kids my daughter is attending school with are that behind the times that they use defunct boy bands from the 1990s as ammunition for put downs? I can't begin to analyze what is going through the mind of a 10 year old redneck kid, besides I had some feelings to mend.
So I asked my daughter if she even knew who the Backstreet Boys were. She of course did not. I told her then it really wasn't that bad to be compared to pretty boys who could sing and dance at the same time. She didn't buy this. I asked her why it bothered her and she said it was because he had said she looked like a boy. Now my daughter does not look like a boy and I know I see her through mother eyes but she is just as cute as a button.
It made me remember the teasing I endured from pesky little boys. Chris Henry couldn't resist calling me Skinny Minnie when I would walk by his table in the lunch room. Donald Sunny couldn't help but tease me with Polish jokes. My uncles use to give me put downs to dish back to him-like did you hear about the Pollock who rented his basement of his outhouse to the German-which is the nationality that my uncles assumed Donald Sunny was. Ooooo....That got him! I know you are but what am I? My Dad's take on it was that was how boys acted when they liked you. Yuck!
I tried to give my daughter the best Mom Advice-just ignore them. Who am I kidding? Let's fight fire with fire. What she needs is an obscure reference to use to make fun of this kid.
I propose that she compare him to one of the members of Kajagoogoo. My husband suggested the Spice Girls. Any other ideas?
posted by amyd | 4:58 PM
1 Comments:
Why on earth would someone say that? She is a girly girl with long flowing hair - but I guess that is what the Backstreet Boys are too. I guess. I get all those boy bands confused. She should tell him he looks like Elton John.
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