Having been a teacher, you'd be surprised. Kids are shockingly accepting and honest little beings. Their honesty is refreshing. I've got Parkinson's these days so I only substitute teach now. Kids are dramatically less awkward than adults when you tell them. They'll just straight ask why my hands shake. And then you tell them and instead of being weird about it they'll say "Damn, that sucks" with perfectly sincere empathy and then ask how you text on your phone.
And they're going to say mean shit to anyone and everyone. Don't think you're safe because you look normal. They'll find your weakness and blurt it out.
As someone who has lived with a fairly mild physical disability since birth, it is 100% the adults who have always had an issue with my disability more than the kids(even when I was a child). Kids will stare, sometimes mimic(toddlers), and ask but will still mostly treat me like they do everyone else(for better or worse). Adults will add the shaming aspect and act like I shouldn’t be interacted with “because it’s rude” or they don’t want to hurt me/my feelings(when really it’s more about them not wanting to feel uncomfortable). The fake act of caring while being actively shunned through dismissive pity is so “othering” and 100% worse(stigmatizing really).
It’s also interesting to note that no kid has ever come up to me to tell me that my disability inspired them or if they can pray for me because I’m especially cared about by god…Yikes! I sometimes really appreciate the authenticity kids tend to display.
It’s all fun until you call the rude lady in church a dick nose. I have been told I was honest in that assessment, but it was not the place for it. Kids 🤷
I subbed for a few years. I never really got any of the behavior issues people talked about. I think part of it is just that people are expecting kids to be adults and tend to attribute to malice what is often just poor impulse control and a developing brain.
%100 true. I'm missing a finger and when adults learn about it they flinch and some even have a look of horror on their face. Kids; super chill about it and get up close to look at it. Kind of refreshing.
You know that trick where you disconnect your index finger? I do that trick but sneeze in the middle of it and "lose" my finger. Kids are so sweet they crawl around to help me look for it.
My English teacher's hands shook when I was little and an older boy said it was because she was shooting drugs into her butt behind the school at lunch.
So I never thought to ask because it had already been answered. It had been answered terribly but it was an answer.
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u/UrbanDryad 1d ago
Having been a teacher, you'd be surprised. Kids are shockingly accepting and honest little beings. Their honesty is refreshing. I've got Parkinson's these days so I only substitute teach now. Kids are dramatically less awkward than adults when you tell them. They'll just straight ask why my hands shake. And then you tell them and instead of being weird about it they'll say "Damn, that sucks" with perfectly sincere empathy and then ask how you text on your phone.
And they're going to say mean shit to anyone and everyone. Don't think you're safe because you look normal. They'll find your weakness and blurt it out.