Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Kids With Chronic Illness, Disability More Apt to Be Bullied


Originally posted on October 28, 2010 by Rest Ministries  
kids on bus Kids With Chronic Illness, Disability More Apt to Be Bullied
Lisa Copen
I have a 7-year-old son and we are in the midst of learning social skills. I didn’t know there was just as much drama between boys this age as there was girls. One day someone is his best friend, the next day he is not. My son felt ignored on the playground last week and couldn’t forget what had happened. Consequently he got in trouble in the classroom because he couldn’t leave “what happened on the playground, out on the playground.”

I’ve also been trying to teach him about Jesus’ love. Yes, Jesus loves everyone, even the little boy who was mean to him last week. Yes, that other little boy doesn’t play fair and you don’t have to play with him, but you still have to be polite. Yes, some kids learn meanness from their parents; though they should know right from wrong, their parents are not teach them. We never know how families may be suffering and that little boy or girl is hurting a lot.

Bullying is getting more and more out of control and I actually thought the father who got on the bus to yell at some children who were bullying his daughter who has a disability was not the “bad guy” he was made out to be.

We are not called to be best friends with everyone, as Christians. But we are to show loving kindness as Jesus himself would. It’s hard to teach our children to “play nice” with everyone and yet avoid cerrtain kids because they really just want some company in the principal’s office. I am learning day by day how to explain to my son all that I am still learning myself.

I’d love your feedback!
Lisa
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Kids With Chronic Illness, Disability More Apt to Be Bullied

Health Behavior News Service
Glenda Fauntleroy, October 7, 2010

“On top of all the other hardships they face daily, adolescent students living with a disability or chronic illness are more likely to be victims of bullying from their peers at school, a new French and Irish study finds.
“We were not overly surprised to learn that children with disability are more vulnerable to bullying, because of a lower self-esteem, sometimes differences in appearance or because they have special needs,” said lead author Mariane Sentenac, of the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France.
Sentenac and her colleagues used data from the Irish and French 2006 Health Behavior in School-aged Children World Health Organization collaborative study. In all, 12,048 students ages 11, 13 and 15 participated. The findings appear online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Students responded to items on how frequently they had experienced bullying at school in the past couple of months. They also answered questions on whether they had a disability or chronic illness such as cerebral palsy, diabetes, arthritis or allergy. Twenty percent of the students in Ireland and 16.6 percent in France reported having one of these conditions.”
> Read the complete story here: Kids With Chronic Illness, Disability More Apt to Be Bullied


Read More! Just click here! Rest Ministries - Chronic Illness and Pain Support http://restministries.com/2010/10/28/kids-with-chronic-illness-disability-more-apt-to-be-bullied/#ixzz13gYM2kho
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Kids With Chronic Illness, Disability More Apt to Be Bullied

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Bullying is so destructive especially for young kids with disabilities. My nephew was recently diagnosed with autism and bullying is a real concern. I'll definitely check out these links you provided!