10 Year Old's Observations

[domesticactivist]

Today we went to the kids' piano recital and we didn't have our act together to bring food (they had lunch before and dinner coming after). We let the kids have plain fresh blueberries at the reception and nothing else - not the cakes, not the "gluten-free" cookies, not the fruit someone else cut up. There were some grapes on the counter (it was at my mom's house) so I told my son he could have some of those if he washed them really well first. He was upset about that because other people weren't washing grapes and he didn't want to be different. I did it for him and he was fine.

So tonight he started feeling like crap - different than when he's been glutened in the past, I'm really not sure if that's what's going on. He has a tight feeling in his chest, and whenever he stood up he felt like puking. He was feeling crampy, too. It occurs to me he could have easily been glutened, though, because he played the piano after most everyone else and I'm pretty sure he didn't wash his hands before having the blueberries.

So we were talking tonight and he said the reason he doesn't like being the odd one out is because an older boy in one of his classes (ended this week) has been giving him a hard time. He's been in the class with this kid for about 6 months and this is the first I've heard of it. I guess the kid teases everyone with special diets (he's a 14 yo boy, and quite obnoxious). I asked him about it and while he's feeling bad about it right now it hasn't been just him singled out and he does like the kid to some extent. I'm still mad like a mama bear but rationally I don't think it's been horrible all the time, or dangerous, at least.

He started describing the kinds of things the other kid did and said (offering foods he knows my son can't have, joking about how my son couldn't have stuff, calling him weird). But then he broke into a smile and said the funniest thing was how the kid complains about problems he could probably fix with our diet (some of the same problems my son had). He's tried to tell the kid that, but the kid says oh, it would probably help but it's not worth the trouble. My son just can't believe he wouldn't want to try fixing those problems, he'd rather complain about them and bully other people.

It must be nice to see things so clearly at such a young age!

[laura4669]

Today we went to the kids' piano recital and we didn't have our act together to bring food (they had lunch before and dinner coming after). We let the kids have plain fresh blueberries at the reception and nothing else - not the cakes, not the "gluten-free" cookies, not the fruit someone else cut up. There were some grapes on the counter (it was at my mom's house) so I told my son he could have some of those if he washed them really well first. He was upset about that because other people weren't washing grapes and he didn't want to be different. I did it for him and he was fine.

So tonight he started feeling like crap - different than when he's been glutened in the past, I'm really not sure if that's what's going on. He has a tight feeling in his chest, and whenever he stood up he felt like puking. He was feeling crampy, too. It occurs to me he could have easily been glutened, though, because he played the piano after most everyone else and I'm pretty sure he didn't wash his hands before having the blueberries.

So we were talking tonight and he said the reason he doesn't like being the odd one out is because an older boy in one of his classes (ended this week) has been giving him a hard time. He's been in the class with this kid for about 6 months and this is the first I've heard of it. I guess the kid teases everyone with special diets (he's a 14 yo boy, and quite obnoxious). I asked him about it and while he's feeling bad about it right now it hasn't been just him singled out and he does like the kid to some extent. I'm still mad like a mama bear but rationally I don't think it's been horrible all the time, or dangerous, at least.

He started describing the kinds of things the other kid did and said (offering foods he knows my son can't have, joking about how my son couldn't have stuff, calling him weird). But then he broke into a smile and said the funniest thing was how the kid complains about problems he could probably fix with our diet (some of the same problems my son had). He's tried to tell the kid that, but the kid says oh, it would probably help but it's not worth the trouble. My son just can't believe he wouldn't want to try fixing those problems, he'd rather complain about them and bully other people.

It must be nice to see things so clearly at such a young age!

Your son sounds like a very wise young man!

[Tempestkin]

The number one thing that helped me when I was bullied in highschool, was knowing my mother was there. Keeping an open line of communication there is really good. That's really cool that you and your son have that!