Bullying at the Playground

A couple of days ago We were at our usual playground on Middlesex street when Supriya's first brush with bullying took place. She was dressed in jeans and camouflage t-shirt. This girl -- about 10 -- started laying into Supriya about the "boy shirt." Both were wearing jeans, so evidently that item of clothing was not a problem. She asked Supriya, "Are you a boy or a girl?" Supriya replied she was a girl. So this girl said, "Then stop wearing boy-clothes." She even told me to "stop dressing her in boy clothes"! I told her to mind her own business in no uncertain terms, and the episode ended there.

I shudder at the thought of what this would have led to in a school setting. Supriya would not have me to take her side, and she would be shamed into dressing like all the other girls. I am so glad we are homeschooling and also that our circle of friends does not have these kinds of hang-ups.