Thursday, September 29, 2005

It's hard being a mum

I met DD's teacher today to try & sort out the problems that DD is having a school & I'm impressed. At last we have a teacher who won't tolerate kids being mean to each other!

When she was 8 & had been bullied for a year at her previous school, DD started the new school year & surprise surprise it continued. So she kept mentioning it to her teacher (lets call her Mrs W) & still the toment continued. So I went to see Mrs W, again & again. After a few weeks this teacher with 30 years experience told my 8 year old daughter to stand up to them herself & 'deal with it' - I was livid.

So then began the regular trips to see the headmaster. In January this year I realised that my bright, creative & intelligent daughter, was dumbing down her work to fit in with the idiot children who were bullying her. When I met with her headmaster to inform him that she was having a day off school to visit another school he, finally (after 2 1/2 years of bullying), offered to write to the parents of the kids involved & get them into school - but it was too late. It was too late as their behaviour was intrenched & my beautiful daughter was their punching bag.

So we're back again to a couple of low achieving kids trying to belittle & bring down my DD to their level. But this time the teacher is willing & keen to help. So DD has to firstly tell the kids to STOP IT. If they carry on then she has to tell her teacher & she'll talk to them. If that doesn't stop it, then the headmaster gets involved. Then the parents.

What really impressed me was that the class teacher stressed to DD that she mustn't let children who don't want to learn, stop her from exploring & enjoying her work.

She asked DD what had happened today & was appalled to discover that they had been kicking her during the ICT lesson. She inquired why DD didn't say anything at the time & DD looked to me for help. She hasn't been mentioning this latest round due to the reaction of Mrs W & didn't honestly think that her current teacher would be interested & willing to help her. But equally she was scared to say it to her current teacher who was now being so supportive.

It's tearing me apart to think of her going through this again when she was so pleased to escape just a few months ago but hopefully it won't carry on for much longer.

She will be 10 years old on Sunday & I just hope that she no longer has to put up with being harrased just because she's intelligent & keen to learn. Or because she's a good swimmer & the other kids are as thick as & swim like bricks.

Knitting: is happening I promise but other things are taking priority at the moment. Finishing will happen soon or I think the Finishing Police will invade my home!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would just like to give you a bit of solidarity for your little girl, DD. I'm 15 and my name is Lucy, and I'm from London, England. I've been bullied for being intelligent as far back as I can remember, and I've had idiot teachers like Mrs. W who told me to do things like "stand up to the bullies". Clearly these teachers have never been bullied themselves. I would just like to say that you sound like an amazing parent, because my own mother spends most of her time bullying me for getting permanently good grades worse than most of the kids ever do. Just to sort of let DD know she's not on her own, and that while there will always be someone who's trying to hurt you, at least you have the brains to know that you're better than that, and there will always be twice as many people who love you.

blueadt said...

Lucy

I've left a message for you on my blog today (2nd May 2006) - please leave your email or post revealing your own blog if you have one & I'll email you back.

Cheers

Blueadt