Comments on: A story about little Mr. A and little me http://american-family.org/2008/08/22/a-story-about-little-mr-a-and-little-me/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:51:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Lilian http://american-family.org/2008/08/22/a-story-about-little-mr-a-and-little-me/comment-page-1/#comment-92238 Lilian Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:19:30 +0000 http://american-family.org/?p=1377#comment-92238 Wow... I get busy and can't come visit for a couple of weeks and now there's so much to catch up! What a fascinating discussion! And my heart broke for little Mr. A too, particularly because the main cause of his troubles (apart from the "craziness" of his parents) is the fact that he is the child of immigrants. Just that tiny slice of his story reminded me of Maxine Hong Kingston's <i>The Woman Warrior</i> which I taught years ago. It was great to hear chicagomama's voice again after so many months, and her interchange with Jody. It makes me really glad that I'm not sending my son into a school where he might have to face those problems. Well, now I have to go read the most recent posts! Wow… I get busy and can’t come visit for a couple of weeks and now there’s so much to catch up! What a fascinating discussion!

And my heart broke for little Mr. A too, particularly because the main cause of his troubles (apart from the “craziness” of his parents) is the fact that he is the child of immigrants. Just that tiny slice of his story reminded me of Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior which I taught years ago.

It was great to hear chicagomama’s voice again after so many months, and her interchange with Jody. It makes me really glad that I’m not sending my son into a school where he might have to face those problems. Well, now I have to go read the most recent posts!

]]> By: Kathy http://american-family.org/2008/08/22/a-story-about-little-mr-a-and-little-me/comment-page-1/#comment-91610 Kathy Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:15:19 +0000 http://american-family.org/?p=1377#comment-91610 Mr. A is very much like my brother. I was fortunate to have him to pave the path for me in our white suburbia growing up Chinese. Mr. A is very much like my brother. I was fortunate to have him to pave the path for me in our white suburbia growing up Chinese.

]]> By: ShariU http://american-family.org/2008/08/22/a-story-about-little-mr-a-and-little-me/comment-page-1/#comment-91524 ShariU Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:09:06 +0000 http://american-family.org/?p=1377#comment-91524 I have 4 kids, the older 2 are in college, 1 in high school and the baby (adopted from China) just started kindergarten. I have always done my best to make sure my kids didn't stand out; i.e. clean, hair brushed, good clothes, homework done on time, forms signed, field trips paid for, etc etc. My oldest son was teased mercilessly by his classmates in the 4th and 5th grade. He was always kind of a "book-wormy" kid and had glasses, didn't play sports and just didn't fit in with his peers. He came home many, many days crying about how badly he had been teased. They called him gay, queer, nerd, all the standards. I spoke with his 4th grade teacher about it because the girl who teased him the most was right behind him in the lunch line. The teacher switched the line order around a little bit so he didn't have to stand next to her, but other than that all I could really do was wrap my arms around him when he came home from school and let him cry it out. It improved by middle school and by high school he was just fine. (In fact, he graduated near the top of his class, got into the college of his choice and is on full academic scholarship......so HA! to all the a@@holes who tormented him and are now working at Best Buy and interestingly enough, most of the tormentors have turned out to not be overachievers). I think, as parents, there is a lot we can do to help our kids fit in or NOT stand out, but the truth is, some kids are just "ripe" for being picked on and there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it once it happens. The teachers are aware of it and I felt they did they did what they could do to try to make it easier on him, but in the end, he just had to endure it. Putting all that in words just brings on a whole flood of emotions for me. Thankfully, my son has turned into a strong and courageous young man who seems to understand that the bullies really were just very small people and that it had nothing to do with him. I have 4 kids, the older 2 are in college, 1 in high school and the baby (adopted from China) just started kindergarten. I have always done my best to make sure my kids didn’t stand out; i.e. clean, hair brushed, good clothes, homework done on time, forms signed, field trips paid for, etc etc. My oldest son was teased mercilessly by his classmates in the 4th and 5th grade. He was always kind of a “book-wormy” kid and had glasses, didn’t play sports and just didn’t fit in with his peers. He came home many, many days crying about how badly he had been teased. They called him gay, queer, nerd, all the standards. I spoke with his 4th grade teacher about it because the girl who teased him the most was right behind him in the lunch line. The teacher switched the line order around a little bit so he didn’t have to stand next to her, but other than that all I could really do was wrap my arms around him when he came home from school and let him cry it out. It improved by middle school and by high school he was just fine. (In fact, he graduated near the top of his class, got into the college of his choice and is on full academic scholarship……so HA! to all the a@@holes who tormented him and are now working at Best Buy and interestingly enough, most of the tormentors have turned out to not be overachievers). I think, as parents, there is a lot we can do to help our kids fit in or NOT stand out, but the truth is, some kids are just “ripe” for being picked on and there’s not a heck of a lot you can do about it once it happens. The teachers are aware of it and I felt they did they did what they could do to try to make it easier on him, but in the end, he just had to endure it. Putting all that in words just brings on a whole flood of emotions for me. Thankfully, my son has turned into a strong and courageous young man who seems to understand that the bullies really were just very small people and that it had nothing to do with him.

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