The other day, a bus
driver, brought up (on the famous "Uncensored group" online), the topic of children smelling bad from weed when
they get on the bus, saying that you can see it is embarrassing for the children, as other kids notice it. The driver pleaded with parents to rectify this problem.
I didn't realize what a problem it was today. Others in the online thread spoke of children getting nicknames, as one adult recalled being called "ashtray" as a kid because their parents smoked cigarettes.
One person described a parent coming to a Halloween party for their small child's class, so high they could hardly function.
Naturally, the discussion turned to the issue of marijuana vs cigarettes vs alcohol. Some assumed parents were doing these things in front of their school-age children, while others defensively pointed out that maybe the children just lived in a smoking household and wore clothes that smelled.
There were a ton of people contributing on the thread, so this must have really touched a nerve.
When you get down to it, although we cannot control what other people do, especially legally, in their own homes, I believe it is important for parents to realize how their children are affected by their behavior.
You may never realize that your child is being made fun of at school. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask them.
Of course, proactively, maybe you could consider changing your own habits so that your children do not have to endure ridicule, when the social aspects of school can be tough enough already.
The person complaining online was a bus driver. I wonder if teachers have the same experience.
Is this a problem today? Is there any reasonable solution that could help children?
Janet Cassidy
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Good question. My guess - coming from some guy in his mid-70s, whose grandchild is being home-schooled - is that this specific issue is at the very least a not-uncommon one.
ReplyDeleteExpanding on that: unless human nature has changed a lot over the last few decades, which seems wildly unlikely, the general issue of children being teased by their peers is common. If not universal.
As an historian, I don't think America needs a re-run of Prohibition, and could emphatically use a re-evaluation of what I see as hysterical responses to real substance abuse problems.
As some guy who, with my wife - whose opinion I value highly, has raised four kids - - - I think that talking TO the kids is a good idea, and talking WITH them is even better.
So is remembering that they're people, who - as one of my daughters said - are ignorant, not stupid. (With only a few years experience to draw on, comparative ignorance is inevitable: the trick is remembering that we all can learn. And that's another topic.)