Tuesday, April 09, 2019

Teasing?

I grew up in a house with a lot of teasing. Some of it was playful and some of it was hurtful. Teasing can be amusing and playful, but teasing can be hurtful too.

Some use teasing to incite or bait you--they use words to get you going and challenge the worst of you. It's important to be mindful of teasing like this, and it's important not to tease like this.

As teachers, we may tease in playful ways here and there to bring a smile to a child's face or make light of an issue. However, we have to be careful that our teasing does not hurt a child's feelings, and if we do that--it's integral that we apologize right away so that a child understands your intention and your error.

When we are repeatedly teased in ways that are hurtful, confusing, or an effort to gaslight, we have to be aware of that teasing and respond accordingly.

Mean teasers want to get a reaction from you--they bait you to react. Instead, it's best to simply write down what the mean teaser says and does by keeping a log of the mean teasing. The log will help you to understand why the mean teasing is happening and ways to avoid or change the mean teasing.

Mean teasers, for some reason, want to take you down--they don't value you and want to hurt you. Don't let them get in the way of your good work and effort, and check your actions to make sure that you are not inspiring this mean teasing in any way.

Mean teasing wastes a lot of time, time that could be spent on positive effort and endeavor--don't let it take you to places you don't want to be.

In schools where there's multiple intersections of people everyday, there's apt to be teasing now and then. It's important to be aware of what kind of teasing exists and react appropriately to it.