Husky? Stop The Stigma

Yes that is me in the picture. Probably eight years old or so. Husky for sure. How did I know? Because everyone told me so. Listen in and read the articles associated with this episode. Oh yeah, I was an overweight little boy. So much so, that when my mother took me to buy clothes I went to what I thought was a special clothing store for boys like me, fat. Why did I think this? Because when I walked into the store, the opened tie, crossed arm, wrinkled shirt, cigarette smoking salesman, took one look at me from head to toe, looked at my mother, pointed to the back of the store and said, “Husky.” Gee did I feel special, until I discovered that the store I was in was one of the only stores around that sold clothes for fat kids. Sure, I said it, for fat kids, because that’s how I felt like a fat kid, and that’s how I was treated. Special stores for special kids who were fat. My skinny friends bought clothes from all kinds of stores; I was relegated to one store, and one style. I certainly was not one of the cool kids, and at times felt isolated and excluded. You would think adults would know better and after all these years learned that stigmatizing young kids because of size, shape or weight does nothing but impact a child's self concept and esteem. Not so fast, it's still going on. Listen in and discover why one NJ school district is being sued because of the insensitivity of a football coach. I am including a link to the article below. Read the article here Read Husky The Bully Proof Classroom