Daddy Daydreamer
Confession of a Grade 8 bully
We are all capable of horrible and beautiful things
Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay
I remember Mike from my Grade 8 class. He had a spiky, longer brush cut. His front teeth stuck out slightly. It was 1986. Bryan Adams and Corey Hart were big. So were the Beastie Boys.
Now, kids being kids (that's no excuse!), Mike got teased. Someone gave him a not-too-nice nickname and it . . .
Posted in: bullyingempathymy name is earlsocial media
I wish I embraced Taiwanese culture as a kid
Rejecting my ethnicity exposed a childhood insecurity with being different
“Dad, why do you look different from us?” my son asked, over dinner.
“Whaddya mean?” I replied, glancing at some stir-fried bok choy.
“You're darker than us,” he said, comparing my skin tone to his and his brother’s. “Why is that?”
“Um,” I stuttered, “the ingredients that A-Kong and A-Ma made me with . . .
Laws of the jungle gym
Disciplining other people’s children can be a dicey business
This essay originally appeared in The Globe and Mail.
Disciplining other people’s children can be a dicey business. I sometimes face this issue at our neighbourhood park, where I often take my kids after school.
I am a former teacher, so the playground is very familiar to me: It’s where a different type of . . .
Posted in: bullyingdisciplineplaygroundracism