Does anyone else remember bullies from their childhood schools or neighborhoods

[senior citizen]

In a "spin off" from the baton attack on the motorist in TV, I was thinking that "some bullies may never grow up".

Although "bullying" has been discussed in the news media of late, and I've actually heard about it back when our first grandchild was in middle school and our daughter would say how bad it was getting in the schools (she's a teacher herself).........it's really nothing new.

Perhaps the bully was bullied by someone as a child.....and in that case, it is learned behavior.

However, nowadays, the fact that bullying is driving teens and younger to commit suicide to escape the internet harassment, is very alarming.

My husband and I recall from our own "youth" that bullies always existed.
They probably always will (due to their own ignorance and insecurity; they feel stronger when they pick on the perceived weaker ones.)

I went to public school; my hubby went to Catholic school. We both remember "troubled kids" who would be passed back and forth from school to school........there were no special classes for them back in the 1950's.

I tried to mention to our daughter that as an 8 year old , I recall exiting school during World Series time of the year, such as now.......and see a whole horde of little boys circling one boy.........beating him up. This was right outside the school....in the schoolyard. My husband said it also happened at his school.........and in high school at the lockers.......I don't recall it in high school.

But, I do remember as little 8 year old girls and up, my entire group of friends, who had to walk about 6 blocks each day after school to our homes and our neighborhood.........would be terrorized by an "Alice Kondrowski"......(Wonder where she is today? No doubt still picking on people)..

She had been "kicked out" of three Catholic schools and several public schools..........was now a student at the German Catholic School/church at the end of my street...........where I made my First Holy Communion and Confirmation, where I got married, etc.

It didn't matter which block we all walked down. She and her three cronies were there..........cursing at us (First time I ever heard the "F" word was from her)............we were really innocent kids in those days............no one I knew or in my family talked like she did.

Like a drunken sailor (just an expression; no offence to sailors out there).

If we changed streets......her "radar" seemed to know where to locate us.

It was truly awful to walk home from school.........we all were scared to death of her........and that's what bullies do. They seem to get power from frightening people.

If anyone has ever seen the Christmas movie about the little boy with the eyeglasses who wanted the B.B. gun for Christmas.........the one whose dad got the LEG LAMP.......love that movie..........well the kid in the coon skin cap.......was a male version of our Alice Kondrowski.

Lurking in wait........for the innocent kids to walk by......to pick on them.

Does anyone else remember bullies from their childhood schools or neighborhoods..........

[graciegirl]

Nope. My grandfather who together with my dear grandmother raised me.
He was six foot five and a cop.

[Taltarzac725]

My mom was sick with me while she was pregnant so I had all kinds of speech and coordination problems growing up in Wisconsin and then Reno, Nevada. A great English teacher Mrs. Mitchell of Wooster High School in Reno, Nevada in 1975-1976 turned me around by making me fall in love with books and education. Bullies still have been a huge problem for me after high school but I got quite used to them from the high school counselor at Wooster High School who said I did not deserve the Michelle Mitchell Memorial Scholarship (after my teacher's murdered daughter on my birthday of 2-24) because I was not one of her "in" kids to my huge fight with various law librarians about getting practical information for victims/survivors of crimes into or accessible through libraries of all kinds. I just enlisted people to battle the bullies along with my using the wisdom taught to me by Mrs. Barbara Mitchell and teachers who came after her. I have had some great ones after Mrs. Mitchell too. The love of education planted by Mrs. Mitchell pushed me to get four degrees and take courses of some kind from the University of Nevada, Reno; BYU Law School (dropped out though); the University of Denver; the College of San Mateo (Spanish); and the University of Minnesota Law School as well as courses in Dutch, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese at the regular or correspondence University of Minnesota college.

I could probably write a book or a screenplay about my extensive experiences with bullies. Doubt if many would believe it however. There's a lot I have trouble believing and I lived through it and probably e-mailed hundreds of thousands of people and organizations trying to document it as well as improve the situation for survivors/victims of various legal systems in the world. I managed to get nominated to 24 Marquis Who's Who publications from 1992 through 2002 fighting for the right of survivors/victims of crimes for access to practical information based on sharing my story with many.

The best way to battle bullies is to create your own tribe of supporters.

[zcaveman]

Back in the 60s we never had a bully situation in school. At least where I lived.

Z

[ilovetv]

In the 1960's when I was in grade school, if somebody started being a bully at school or in the neighborhood, they got their butt paddled by the principal and were kicked off the school bus and weren't allowed to ride. More parents were willing to respect a victim's parent who told them what their kid was doing. There was less of parents saying "My child would NEVER do such a thing".

When our own kids were in school in 1990's and forward, bullies were empowered because of the policy that says, "if you hit or punch in self-defence somebody who hits you first, BOTH get suspended" from school.

It left no room for the victim's truthful, witnessed account of being victimized first and that they struck back only because they were attacked and needed to get away somehow. That policy sends the message that telling the truth does not matter....translation: "I'm screwed whether I tell the truth, or whether I lie", and so why should the victim even bother to tell the adults in charge?

The other thing that empowers bullies in recent years is political correctness in training kids in school: "don't JUDGE the person" when an innocent kid reports what they have seen about a bully or lawbreaker.

Well, we all have to make judgement calls in life, when we see somebody becoming a threat to another person or society. But our kids have been raised to "not judge" others when what is really being done is reporting abuse and law breaking.

We spent a lot of time talking with our kids about the difference between identifying wrongdoing and judging/condemning the person. Kids can be taught to condemn the behavior/actions but not condemn the person. But there's been a lot of "making people feel good about themselves" that's gone awry.

[jblum315]

Don't remember any bullies. There were a couple of boys who were 14 and still like in fifth grade, but they were pussycats. In high school, "mean girls" but no bullies.

[murray607]

In a "spin off" from the baton attack on the motorist in TV, I was thinking that "some bullies may never grow up".

Although "bullying" has been discussed in the news media of late, and I've actually heard about it back when our first grandchild was in middle school and our daughter would say how bad it was getting in the schools (she's a teacher herself).........it's really nothing new.

Perhaps the bully was bullied by someone as a child.....and in that case, it is learned behavior.

However, nowadays, the fact that bullying is driving teens and younger to commit suicide to escape the internet harassment, is very alarming.

My husband and I recall from our own "youth" that bullies always existed.
They probably always will (due to their own ignorance and insecurity; they feel stronger when they pick on the perceived weaker ones.)

I went to public school; my hubby went to Catholic school. We both remember "troubled kids" who would be passed back and forth from school to school........there were no special classes for them back in the 1950's.

I tried to mention to our daughter that as an 8 year old , I recall exiting school during World Series time of the year, such as now.......and see a whole horde of little boys circling one boy.........beating him up. This was right outside the school....in the schoolyard. My husband said it also happened at his school.........and in high school at the lockers.......I don't recall it in high school.

But, I do remember as little 8 year old girls and up, my entire group of friends, who had to walk about 6 blocks each day after school to our homes and our neighborhood.........would be terrorized by an "Alice Kondrowski"......(Wonder where she is today? No doubt still picking on people)..

She had been "kicked out" of three Catholic schools and several public schools..........was now a student at the German Catholic School/church at the end of my street...........where I made my First Holy Communion and Confirmation, where I got married, etc.

It didn't matter which block we all walked down. She and her three cronies were there..........cursing at us (First time I ever heard the "F" word was from her)............we were really innocent kids in those days............no one I knew or in my family talked like she did.

Like a drunken sailor (just an expression; no offence to sailors out there).

If we changed streets......her "radar" seemed to know where to locate us.

It was truly awful to walk home from school.........we all were scared to death of her........and that's what bullies do. They seem to get power from frightening people.

If anyone has ever seen the Christmas movie about the little boy with the eyeglasses who wanted the B.B. gun for Christmas.........the one whose dad got the LEG LAMP.......love that movie..........well the kid in the coon skin cap.......was a male version of our Alice Kondrowski.

Lurking in wait........for the innocent kids to walk by......to pick on them.

Does anyone else remember bullies from their childhood schools or neighborhoods..........

I can remember 2 bullies at my school.

They weren't the brightest indiviuals and would act out when in situations they were uncomfortable in. I was pushed to the ground once by one of these guys for the only reason that I had got an "A" in a math test and he had an "F".

Another time, I witnessed another of these bullies hitting another boy that he called a "bookworm" for no reason other than that. The "bookworm" went on to become a doctor, the bully I believe worked as a custodian in an office complex.

Bullies often use vioence to assert themselves, it is the only way they know of doing so.

[Patty55]

No bullies, no "hoods" or "greasers", it wasn't tolerated. There were a few problem kids but they were removed and sent to private school.

[rubicon]

Where I hail from we didn't have bullies in schools we had opportunities. Why? because our fathers made it clear that so called bullies were opportunities for us to take a stand and defend ourselves. It worked.

Having said that we need to qualify this bully thing with "an all things equal" age, etc. I mean a kid should not go into a gunfight with a knife (illustration purposes only) or face a group of bullies, etc

[Barefoot]

When I was seven, there was an overweight girl in my grade that used to wait outside the school and chase me home every day. I have no idea why. I was small and fast, so she could never catch me. I never told anyone, it never occurred to me. And after a while she got bored and stopped chasing me. I thought it was a normal part of growing up.

[tucson]

We had some at our schools, there were gangs in different parts of town that would have gang fights. My husband was beat up when he was a teenager by 3 guys for driving some girl home in his car, and I was beat up by 2 girls in high school, also my sister was jumped by some girls in Jr. High.

[billethkid]

Some of what kids did in the 50's would be considered bullying in today's mentality of parents, the media, those who extort the term and those who are extort able.

Very different yard sticks then and now.

I don't know how we survived without the 24/7 media ampliphier!!!

btk

[tippyclubb]

I was bullied constantly growing up but I never let that define me. At that time it was very painful but I always knew when I got older my life would be great.

I had the last laugh at the 20th class reunion, and yes some of the bullies where there. They did not remember me, but I made sure they knew I was the tall, skinny, pimply faced girl they use to traumatize. Some of them apologized, and others didn't have a clue.

It was at that class reunion I was able to forgive each and every one of them. Perhaps, if they had not been so busy bulling others they could have made something out of their lives too. There will always be bullies, such is the way of life but in my case it made me stronger.

[bkcunningham1]

Greg Manning. In sixth grade he and his strange Northern accent moved to my small southern town from a place called Michigan. I heard adults whisper that his father had lost his job and the family needed help. Greg cussed and puffed his chest out and told us he smoked cigarettes and would beat us up if we told on him for any of the cruel things he did to some of the other kids. I was both scared and fascinated by him.

His family eventually moved and he left our small town and took his troubled childhood with him. Our teacher, Mr. Grindstaff told us that Greg's father had been called back to work in Michigan and he wouldn't be in our class any longer. Each of us slowly started telling a dismayed Mr. Grindstaff some of the mischievous, spiteful and downright mean things poor Greg did during his time with our class.

I can still see Mr. Grindstaff's face, his long corduroy clad legs crossed at the ankles leaning against his desk as we told of ketchup in seats, punches on arms, ransomed lunches and the use of words I blush to remember. Our kind-hearted and protective Mr. Grindstaff promised us that if he'd known he would have paddled Greg and if he ever saw him again he do it twice as hard to make up for our torment.

As life happens, whose father do you think lost his job and moved back to the coalfields with his family and right into Mr. Grindstaff's sixth grade class and a group of bewildered and frightened 12 year olds? Greg Manning.

I didn't know whether to hide or cry I was so afraid he'd find out we told all of his secrets but before he got his coat hung up in the cloak closet, Greg was told that the jig was up. Mr. Grindstaff told Greg about his promise to us and took him into the hallway and paddled his bottom.

He was a model student from that day forward.

[boomerbaby]

I remember both boy bullies and girl bullies. They were really mean and if you told on them the nun would punish them but they really had no one at home that stayed on them. Parents did nothing about it so they would just keep picking on you. I did all I could to avoid them even taking a different bus home from school and having to walk from that stop home and it was a distance, I am very glad that we did not have the internet back then because what we had to go through was in our neighborhoods and school but today the world can here someone being bullied. People put their names and pictures up.It is very sad.

[Suzi]

I suppose what most of All kids went through in school could now-adays be called bullying. I never thought of it that way - there were cliques, and mean girls but I honestly believe that those trying times made me what I am today. Sure some of the stuff was hurtful. You'd get ridiculed if you didn't have the right clothes, or if your period made your pimples bad or whatever.
I know there will be people that will say that all that stuff is bullying and is bad. But I disagree. If everyone had a perfect life with no bumps and bruises, we'd all turn out like clones of each other. When someone is mean, you have to learn how to deal with it. If you get pushed down, you get up again and learn another tactic/lesson and how to deal with it. Now I DON'T advocate beating up anybody......some grown-up needs to step in, but short of that, some of this has to be sorted out by the kid. And parents need to monitor and be part of their kids life. I always knew what was going on in my kids lives.......just by the look on their faces.
Its just my opinion that the term bullying is currently being used too liberally. Having a bunch of your friends at the lunch table and not letting someone else (outside of your group) sit down, in my opinion, is not bullying. Thats just me though.

[Barefoot]

I suppose what most of All kids went through in school could now-adays be called bullying. I never thought of it that way - there were cliques, and mean girls but I honestly believe that those trying times made me what I am today. Sure some of the stuff was hurtful. You'd get ridiculed if you didn't have the right clothes, or if your period made your pimples bad or whatever.
I know there will be people that will say that all that stuff is bullying and is bad. But I disagree. If everyone had a perfect life with no bumps and bruises, we'd all turn out like clones of each other. When someone is mean, you have to learn how to deal with it. If you get pushed down, you get up again and learn another tactic/lesson and how to deal with it. Now I DON'T advocate beating up anybody......some grown-up needs to step in, but short of that, some of this has to be sorted out by the kid. And parents need to monitor and be part of their kids life. I always knew what was going on in my kids lives.......just by the look on their faces.
Its just my opinion that the term bullying is currently being used too liberally. Having a bunch of your friends at the lunch table and not letting someone else (outside of your group) sit down, in my opinion, is not bullying. Thats just me though.

Suzi, I agree with your post. Sure, there are some really mean and sadistic kids, and they are true bullies and deserve to be reported and dealt with harshly.

But there is also a lot of teasing and cliques and snobbery that goes on in every high school. And that is part of growing up and finding your place and learning how to be accepted, or learning to be independent and rise above the situation. I think these types of situation strengthen character. I think true bullying is loathsome. But I agree with Susi that the term is currently being used too liberally.

[jblum315]

I do remember right after WW2, when I was in second grade, we had a new little girl whose family I think were called "displaced persons." Now they would be immigrants. I think she was from Poland. She knew very little English, and we bullied her unmercifully. Not physical, just teasing and being really mean. I'm still ashamed of it.

[tainsley]

A couple of weeks ago there was a segment on CBSs Sunday morning gathering red heads together in one place to break a record (with Bill Geist). Several redheads talked about how they were teased growing up for having red hair. I was called Carrot Top, I'd rather be dead than red in the head, etc. Although I was reassured by family that I had beautiful hair and freckles were indeed a sign of beauty...it hurt but mom still wouldn't let me dye my hair! Just had to wait it out. I always seemed to befriend the kids who were made fun of though. Had some good friends throughout school.

[senior citizen]

A couple of weeks ago there was a segment on CBSs Sunday morning gathering red heads together in one place to break a record (with Bill Geist). Several redheads talked about how they were teased growing up for having red hair. I was called Carrot Top, I'd rather be dead than red in the head, etc. Although I was reassured by family that I had beautiful hair and freckles were indeed a sign of beauty...it hurt but mom still wouldn't let me dye my hair! Just had to wait it out. I always seemed to befriend the kids who were made fun of though. Had some good friends throughout school.

I had a girl friend in elementary and high school that had beautiful red hair, pale white skin with freckles and green eyes. She was a beauty, but also hated her hair. I'll bet yours was just as beautiful.

To me, that is nothing at all to be teased about.

It is rare and I did see that segment with Bill Geist. It was great to see all of those red heads together..........

My girlfriend's grandparents were both born in Russia; her parents were born in the U.S., as was she........but I also had a brother in law of German descent who was a natural red head. Neither of his sons ended up with red hair. One had dark brown hair and the other blonde hair.
Go figure.

So, in my book, red hair is rare..........they are the only two I can think of.

You didn't really dye your red hair, did you????

[senior citizen]

I do remember right after WW2, when I was in second grade, we had a new little girl whose family I think were called "displaced persons." Now they would be immigrants. I think she was from Poland. She knew very little English, and we bullied her unmercifully. Not physical, just teasing and being really mean. I'm still ashamed of it.

We had a similar incident at our elementary school , also with a girl from Poland (after World War II). I was just telling my husband about it (again, as he's heard it a zillion times)........

We might have been in sixth grade; back then it went up to eighth grade..........however, she was SIXTEEN YEARS OLD to our younger ages.

Definitely should have been in high school, but back then they did not have teachers who taught English as a Second Language or any of the other English courses taught to those without a command of English.

It was not the GIRLS at all, but the BOYS..........who would surround her in the schoolyard and make fun of her "endowments", her "clothes", her inability to speak English very well (broken English).......it was sad.
We all knew it was wrong. But no one broke up these boys' verbal attacks on her.............she was the nicest girl.

I still remember her name. Wanda Demianek. It stays in your memory; these childhood incidents.

My mom's parents came from Austria-Hungary (of Ukrainian / Rusyn descent) and my husband's grandparents also came from Poland.

That group of immigrants could not speak English upon arrival so relied on their children (who were born in this country) to enter the school system and learn the language.........

At age 7, my mom also had to go to Ukrainian school after public school ended for the day, in order to learn the Cyrillic alphabet so that she could READ the Ukrainian newspapers to my grandmother.

I imagine that group of children (the children of immigrants) might also have been teased by those who had been in this country a longer time.

[senior citizen]

I remember both boy bullies and girl bullies. They were really mean and if you told on them the nun would punish them but they really had no one at home that stayed on them. Parents did nothing about it so they would just keep picking on you. I did all I could to avoid them even taking a different bus home from school and having to walk from that stop home and it was a distance, I am very glad that we did not have the internet back then because what we had to go through was in our neighborhoods and school but today the world can here someone being bullied. People put their names and pictures up.It is very sad.

You are no doubt younger than we are, but I can relate to your mention of different ways of avoiding the bully (such as taking a different bus route, etc.).......yes, it is worse today with the internet.

Our "Alice Kondrowski" and I hope she's out there somewhere and reads this..........would literally be lurking "halfway" between our school and our neighborhood...........so there was no way a teacher, nun (from her school), or our parents or any relative for that matter, could apprehend her or protect us..........it didn't happen near our home or near our school.

It was the "inbetween zone"............there were three different streets we could take to get to our neighborhood. She must have had built in radar.

No matter which street we walked down (going home from school) she was on it with her little "gang".........now mind you, these were not teens.

She might have been ten years old to our eight years old? They would surround us and terrify us..........it never came to blows. It was just fear.

She enjoyed instilling fear in people. I hope she turned her life around.

I always think that bullies learn it at home.......someone has picked on them and they , in turn, direct this rage or insecurity, whatever it is, towards others. But it was her filthy mouth that was worst of all.

Long long time ago, but she was ahead of her time as far as being a bully.
Nowadays, it seems that her parents would have been contacted......

Back then, kids didn't necessarily "tell" what happened to them enroute to or from school.........Really.

[Yorio]

In elementary school, we went from a big city to a smaller city. Initially I was bullied by kids because I was the only one from big city. I dressed differently and acted differently. Three or four kids were waiting for me outside the school entrance to bully. After few such incidents, mother complained to school and I was let go a few minutes before the rest of the class so could leave before the bullies could get me. Though things got better after few years, my parents sent me to a small Catholic boys' school in big city where there were no bullying.

[senior citizen]

Nope. My grandfather who together with my dear grandmother raised me.
He was six foot five and a cop.


Unfortunately, all of us who were bullied by that troubled girl, had working parents who were not there while we were traveling to school and back.

The incidents did not happen in our neighborhood, nor in our school.

They occurred as we were walking home from school.....and as I mentioned in a different post, she seemed to have built in radar and seemed to intuit which of the three routes (we had a choice of three streets to take enroute home from school).........she was there with her little gang.

We were just about 8 years old to her 10.....and again, back in those days, kids did not tell their parents........

However, someone must have told on her as she was kicked out of many schools, both Catholic schools and public schools.......and just liked to terrorize innocent kids walking home from school , spouting the "F" word.

Also, we were "latch key kids" (anyone remember what that was like?).
All of our parents worked outside the home.........school let out before they returned home from work........so we had our own keys to get in.
Wish we did have a cop waiting at the door for us, but not so...

p.s.
I was most fortunate to be able to raise my two children as a stay at home mom.......so I was there for them when they left in the morning and when they returned home, with home baked cookies and milk for all their friends as well. My husband was also home as his studio was at home. we had the best of both worlds.........it was the way I wanted it, after having two working parents. After ours were in high school and away at college, I began my own little at home business..........and actually, everyone in our neighborhood worked at home.........we had artists of all kinds, craftsmen, attorneys who brought their work home, school teachers who were home all summer, doctors who walked home from the hospital for lunch or to attend their kids' school projects/sports.....we were ahead of our time.........now everyone can work at home via their computers. This was the 1970's and 1980's when our children were home........before college.

But back then, in the 1950's, no protection against bullies......

[senior citizen]

[QUOTE=Taltarzac725;768817]My mom was sick with me while she was pregnant so I had all kinds of speech and coordination problems growing up in Wisconsin and then Reno, Nevada. A great English teacher Mrs. Mitchell of Wooster High School in Reno, Nevada in 1975-1976 turned me around by making me fall in love with books and education. Bullies still have been a huge problem for me after high school but I got quite used to them from the high school counselor at Wooster High School who said I did not deserve the Michelle Mitchell Memorial Scholarship (after my teacher's murdered daughter on my birthday of 2-24) because I was not one of her "in" kids to my huge fight with various law librarians about getting practical information for victims/survivors of crimes into or accessible through libraries of all kinds. I just enlisted people to battle the bullies along with my using the wisdom taught to me by Mrs. Barbara Mitchell and teachers who came after her. I have had some great ones after Mrs. Mitchell too. The love of education planted by Mrs. Mitchell pushed me to get four degrees and take courses of some kind from the University of Nevada, Reno; BYU Law School (dropped out though); the University of Denver; the College of San Mateo (Spanish); and the University of Minnesota Law School as well as courses in Dutch, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese at the regular or correspondence University of Minnesota college.

I could probably write a book or a screenplay about my extensive experiences with bullies. Doubt if many would believe it however. There's a lot I have trouble believing and I lived through it and probably e-mailed hundreds of thousands of people and organizations trying to document it as well as improve the situation for survivors/victims of various legal systems in the world. I managed to get nominated to 24 Marquis Who's Who publications from 1992 through 2002 fighting for the right of survivors/victims of crimes for access to practical information based on sharing my story with many.

The best way to battle bullies is to create your own tribe of supporters.[/QUOTE
************************************************** *******************************************


I wasn't aware of your long struggle to rise above the naysayers and bullies you experienced while growing up.......lingering into your adult life.

Apparently you are endowed with great inner strength to have "survived" and excelled...........for sure. They can't take that away from you.

You have excelled.......so hold that thought.

Love that last sentence:

"The best way to battle bullies is to create your own tribe of supporters."

Thanks for sharing some of those painful moments in your life.

[redwitch]

I found the worst bullying to be in the US. The second-worst was in London. I truly dreaded coming to the States, would cry when Dad told us were going "home". I wanted to be in any country, anywhere but here. I loved the Middle East -- no teasing, no meanness, just acceptance. Ditto Northern Africa (never was in the southern part). I do remember being the only white girl in one school in the Congo. I was touched a lot to see if I my whiteness would come off but it was never done in a mean way, just curiosity. Japan just ignored most foreigners. China was too insulated and had to have tutors at the embassy there. Hong Kong and Singapore kids didn't care if we were different; if we could follow what was being taught, all was good.

In the US, I had swastikas drawn on my clothes, desk and books. I was pushed hard enough to fall and break my wrist. "Dirty Kraut" was common. Fortunately, I always knew it was temporary and I would be leaving this torment and on to a new experience. It also helped that I had very loving parents and knew I was safe at home.

Now, before you misunderstand, I had a lot of good times as a child in America but it was usually with just one or two other children and after school. School here was something to survive. It was not a place of joy until college.

I do love America and Americans. I am proud of my American heritage, just as I am proud of my German heritage. I wouldn't want to live in another nation at this stage of my life (well, maybe Denmark if it didn't have snow). I just think US kids are inherently mean and small.

[tainsley]

I had a girl friend in elementary and high school that had beautiful red hair, pale white skin with freckles and green eyes. She was a beauty, but also hated her hair. I'll bet yours was just as beautiful.

To me, that is nothing at all to be teased about.

It is rare and I did see that segment with Bill Geist. It was great to see all of those red heads together..........

My girlfriend's grandparents were both born in Russia; her parents were born in the U.S., as was she........but I also had a brother in law of German descent who was a natural red head. Neither of his sons ended up with red hair. One had dark brown hair and the other blonde hair.
Go figure.

So, in my book, red hair is rare..........they are the only two I can think of.

You didn't really dye your red hair, did you????

Never! It is still red with touches of blonde (actually grey)! Looks frosted now! I am thinking about washing this grey right out of my hair! My daughter and one of my sons both have red hair and they had been teased in grade school. I guess if someone doesn't like you for whatever reason they will pick out something about you that is different.

[senior citizen]

Never! It is still red with touches of blonde (actually grey)! Looks frosted now! I am thinking about washing this grey right out of my hair! My daughter and one of my sons both have red hair and they had been teased in grade school. I guess if someone doesn't like you for whatever reason they will pick out something about you that is different.


There you go. Frosted.

I finally let my dark brown hair grow out all silver.
Everyone likes it. No more dye jobs.

But, if you want to undo your "frosting" there are great shades of red out there now, even for slightly faded natural redheads......

Our 19 year old granddaughter is a natural honey blonde/lightish brown but she recently did her hair red....and it is beautiful. She has the freckles and blue eyes and naturally pale skin.....so it looks natural.

Go for it.

[senior citizen]

I found the worst bullying to be in the US. The second-worst was in London. I truly dreaded coming to the States, would cry when Dad told us were going "home". I wanted to be in any country, anywhere but here. I loved the Middle East -- no teasing, no meanness, just acceptance. Ditto Northern Africa (never was in the southern part). I do remember being the only white girl in one school in the Congo. I was touched a lot to see if I my whiteness would come off but it was never done in a mean way, just curiosity. Japan just ignored most foreigners. China was too insulated and had to have tutors at the embassy there. Hong Kong and Singapore kids didn't care if we were different; if we could follow what was being taught, all was good.

In the US, I had swastikas drawn on my clothes, desk and books. I was pushed hard enough to fall and break my wrist. "Dirty Kraut" was common. Fortunately, I always knew it was temporary and I would be leaving this torment and on to a new experience. It also helped that I had very loving parents and knew I was safe at home.

Now, before you misunderstand, I had a lot of good times as a child in America but it was usually with just one or two other children and after school. School here was something to survive. It was not a place of joy until college.

I do love America and Americans. I am proud of my American heritage, just as I am proud of my German heritage. I wouldn't want to live in another nation at this stage of my life (well, maybe Denmark if it didn't have snow). I just think US kids are inherently mean and small.

I'm truly sorry for what you had to go through as a child, etc.

I always taught my children to be nice to everyone and not to fight back.
They grew up to be kind and decent people with great loving children as well.

However, there always were , especially in Jr. High (now called middle school) a group who will find any reason to pick on kids, especially intelligent kids.......and it's a very sensitive age.

I'm a pacifist at heart.........and that's what I taught my kids to be.
But, there are all kinds in this world. Sad that you had to meet up with some of them.

[Yorio]

It was in kindergarten. You know the usual stuff of kids sitting around in circles. Circle was already made up when I came it. I wanted to be sitting next to my friend so I took out a small pocket knife and opened the blade. Didn't do anything with it except I think I said, let me in. Don't know why I did it. I thought it was cool? It was stupid. When teacher saw that, I was told to stand in the corner until the class was over and took my pocket knife away. Don't remember whether I got it back. Additionally, I had to take a letter back to my parents and the fact I remember it to this day means the action taken by the adults were appropriate. I think that is the last time I bullied.

[pauld315]

We had more fights on and off school property all through school than I could possibly enumerate. You learned not to back down or have your big brother intervene because if you didn't stand up for yourself or have somebody who could it would just cause more problems. However, as I said, it was so commonplace, I grew up thinking it was normal behavior. Every once in a while somebody would get suspended or expelled from school or end up in a juvenile detention center but nobody really thought much about it. Back then, kids generally didn't carry weapons so they were normally just fistfights and generally nobody got really hurt too bad.

[Trish Crocker]

My brother was bullied when he was in 1st grade by some 6th grade boys that lived on our street. They used to tease him, take his hat and throw it in the mud, stuff like that, until he would cry. My mom called my cousin, also a 6th grade boy. He and his friend came over and waited for the bus. When the bullies got off the bus they were waiting for them. After the butt whipping they never bothered my brother again. We need to teach our children to stand up for themselves...I'm not talking about physically (unless needed) but to feel secure enough in themselves to know that the bullying is just that..bullying.. and does not mean anything. Kids are vulnerable and get their views of themselves from their peers. When a kid is constantly sitting in front of a computer and not relating to other kids on a day to day basis they really don't know how to view who they are except by reading what others 'think' about them. As much as I love computers I really think that social media can be extremely harmful. The bullies would not be so brave if they had to actually confront their victims. Think about it, a kid could spend all day in a classroom, unsure of him/herself, not talking or sharing anything with other kids..then go home, go into their bedroom and read on Facebook about how 'everyone' hates them. It's horrible. I'm a (somewhat) confident, mature adult and if I read on Talk of the Villages that I was ugly, fat, stupid, etc..etc..and that everyone here hates me, it would be very, very hard to deal with. Anyone that is caught bullying on a computer should have their computer privileges taken away except for educational purposes.