Bullying at P.E.
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Anonymous
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My DS is a 9th grader at Wilson, and is being teased every P.E. class about his weight. I know he is slightly larger then the average (around 5-7 and 203 pounds, as of last doctor's visit), but I don't feel like this is a problem, and he is working towards it. A particular senior has been leading this this the beginning of the year, and when I went in to talk to the teacher, he told me that he had not noticed this, but instead had noticed the senior 'motivating' my son.
The bullying involved the senior saying that my son would never be able to do such exercises as pull-ups or proper sit-ups (as neccisary as part of the P.E. curriculum). Apparently, this is encouragement to the P.E. teacher. My question is whether there is any way to get my son out of having to take P.E., as I don't think it is appropriate for the P.E. department to completely ignore this obvious bullying. |
Anonymous
| Have you talked to the teacher or principal? How does your son react? I have a child that is constantly the source of bullying, but that is because she always responds and makes it easy. Not blaming her, but being realistic about how kid interactions. Telling your kid to avoid gym because they are uncomfortable is also not the answer because if they weigh this much now, and I did, they will be fighting weight for the long term. They need to learn to say yep, you got it right so thats why we are working on it. Not easy I know, but if you hide like my parents did you renforce the shame. |
Anonymous
| Another overweight at this age here: a dispensation from PE cannot be the answer here I don't think. I think this needs to be more holistically looked at. It's indeed totally possible that, due to shame, he feels others are oppressing him where they may indeed just not have very refined ways of trying to help him. And if they are using disguised techniques to tease him - totally likely -, then I also agree that this needs to be addressed with everyone involved and not solved by facing the most important question: how he feels about himself and others' perception. |
Anonymous
| My child is at Wilson too and she's being teased about her undergarments during change-up time at P.E. It seems there are a group girls who call themselves the Victoria Secret girls and if you are not wearing those items you are being teased unmercifully. Brought it to my Assistant Principal's attention and she was trying to be a stand-up comic and I am awaiting for the Principal to return my call. |
Anonymous
| Wow. I am in the neighborhood. Wilson is a beautiful school and you are dong the right thing by bringing it to admin's attention. Why don't they take a little stroll and sit in on the locker room once in a while? I guarantee this ridiculousness would stop. for that matter, why don't they stand out on the corner in Tenleytown after school and call the kids on their language. Stand right by McDonald's - the Wilson magnet. All it takes is a few bad actors to make the kids doing the right thing feel miserable or out of place. OR--worse, like they should join in the bad behavior. the admin needs to work on the social side of behavior at Wilson. they truly need to be more proactive in addressing it. |
Anonymous
| 5'7" and 203 is not slightly overweight. |
Anonymous
| That's the ticket...wanting the administration to sit in the lockerroom and watch the activity. We all know where that would go in the matter of a heart beat. |
Anonymous
| Oh my goodness... lurking in the locker room? That will indeed make your child feel more uncomfortable I would guess. |
Anonymous
| Just throwing this out there. Although this is gym but classroom management is still in order. What is the gym teacher doing to "stop" this at the lowest level? |
Anonymous
Exactly. This kid is above the 99th percentile for weight and body mass index and probably fits the category of morbidly obese. Parent: what are you going to do about this? You helped make this health disaster, and you need to focus on fixing it NOW. |
Anonymous
What, is the locker room a faculty / admin no man's zone? That's a recipe for Lord of the Flies if you ask me, |
Anonymous
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I don't think it is a no faculty zone but to have the adults being posted in away that they are in eye-view is kinda creepy. An occasional walk-thru by the adults can re-emphasize the no-bullying rule.
I think the responses are off kilter because the person is actually being teased at the gym portion and not the change-up area. Which could almost mean that the person is not that athetically good. We all know what it can mean to be picked last for the team, which almost comes full circle to being picked on. |
Anonymous
Try not to judge. OP is doing something by asking a random group of strangers for help. OP, getting out of PE doesn't sound like a means to help your child benefit from exercise that will help him work toward his goals. Wilson is, as you know, a very athletically oriented school with resources like the pool that can really help students of all shapes and sizes. If your child has medical issues that would prevent him from ever doing the exercises, then perhaps it's time to talk with the nurse and the PE teacher together so that the senior and other students can learn from this issue. However, from personal experience, it's a lot easier to blame other kids than address your own self-image issues. Kids are smart. They'll look for a way out if they can. You may want to reach out to the doctor before the next visit. Even if he is being bullied in school, it sounds like you know your child needs a supportive environment. The school can be part of that if you try to work with them. Your child is probably not the only student who is bigger than others or struggling with PE. There may be very helpful parents at the school as well. HTH |
Anonymous
I disagree. The admin needs to come up with ways to have a presence in the lockeroom and yes on the corner in Tenleytown. There is a traffic cam on the corner--but there needs to be a cam installed on the sidewalk facing the Metro and the corner of Wisconsin and Albemarle Sts. and also one on the pathway from Deal to Wilson. These things would really help to maintain safety. The cams should all be publicly accessible, just as traffic cams are. As for McDonald's--that's private property so I don't know that you could really get that going. |
Anonymous
NP here. So what, because he's fat it's ok for him to be bullied? |