Bullies and Advocacy
Picture this: A young girl, about 5, sits in front of a group of children in a Kindergarten classroom. She has red glasses, vaguely reminiscent of Sally Jesse Raphael (for my younger readers, she was a popular talk-show host at the time), and her hair is in a high ponytail that drapes in one delicate — and purposeful, thanks to the girl’s mother — corkscrew. Plastic braces reach up to her knees and disappear into her hightop sneakers. Next to her, her mother is explaining to the children — some picking their noses or playing with the colorful alphabet carpet — what the braces are and why the girl wears them. Then the older woman explains that her daughter still likes ice-cream and coloring and cartoons.
When her mother finishes, the little girl speaks: “Does anyone want to ask me a question?”
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