When I was a child I had some not so very happy experiences related to my illness.
One of the things I often think about is how I was made fun of often at school. Missing class for long periods of time was one thing that made my classmates take notice of my “differences”, but having accidents in class, not being able to play during recess and having to skip gym class often made me a target. These were all grounds for being made fun of, and I often faced ridicule. Being like other children was crucial to me, so I pushed myself to do more, sometimes too much, and ended up missing more school as a result. Today, many schools are taking note of different types of bullying, and have implemented rules and tools to help work with children who might be a bit slow, different, or just picked on. I know that teasing is a part of growing up but it is not so much fun when you are the victim. Remind your children, sick or not, to treat everyone equal and if they have nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all. This advice can go a million miles and make a difference to a child.
