In junior high, I was every bully’s fantasy: awkward, short, pudgy, and dressed in ill-fitting hand-me-downs with a curly perm, braces, and glasses. I was the butt of jokes—routinely cuffed, tripped, and otherwise humiliated in between classes and after school. (If you’re looking for the part where I stood up for myself, it’s missing; I eventually transferred to another school where I apparently appeared less geeky.)
Having firsthand knowledge of how cruel kids can be, I cringe when I look at my son, Graeme, whose allergies to food—peanuts in particular—make him vulnerable to horrible pranks. He doesn’t turn 2 for a couple of weeks, but I’m already picturing the teenage angst and middle-school high jinks he could fall victim to. Why? I keep reading about it in the news.
• In April, police charged an eighth-grader with wanton endangerment for allegedly crumbling peanut butter cookies in the lunch pail of his fellow student, who was allergic to peanuts.
• Last week, a 19-year-old high school student in Washington was charged with assault after smearing peanut butter on the forehead of another student who was highly allergic to peanuts.
• In 2005, a 7-year-old girl on a school bus had to be rushed to the hospital after a classmate shoved a peanut butter cracker in her face.
Fortunately, in the first two cases, no one was injured. I guess it’s more difficult to harm a person with peanut allergies than bullies think. Consumption is the best way, and that’s getting harder as schools and other institutions clamp down on peanut oil, peanut butter, and peanut brittle.
But maybe they should also start searching the lunch boxes of school bullies. They already have metal detectors in schools, how much harder would it be to do a quick frisk for contraband Nutter Butters or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?
If the schools won’t take charge, then I do have some power. I’ve got about 10 years to get Graeme some really cool clothes and a kick-ass haircut.
(PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)
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Comments (1)
This is soooo frightening! Thanks for sharing, Sean. As you know, my son has a peanut allergy, too, and this is so unsettling. Does it make me want to home school? No, but it does make me want to send him to karate class or something. Thanks for the great post.