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I was the kid in glasses. Not just glasses. Bifocals. Big. Fat. Bifocals.
By fifth grade, I was so tired of being called “six-eyes”, that I refused to wear my glasses to school. Or in public. Instead, I entered middle school cross-eyed.
My first weeks of middle school, I remember three things, distinctively:
- A girl twice my height (I am not exaggerating) nearly running me over, who then rolled her eyes and proclaimed “I hate sixth graders.”
- My best friend coming to school with a new hair cut, and a boy in our homeroom yelling out “get in a fight with the curling iron?” Her horrified expression as the class laughed is still embedded in my mind. (how he knew what a curling iron was, I have no idea!)
- Sitting on the bus realizing that my good friend from elementary school suddenly was too cool to even say “hello” to me.
Yup. My first few weeks of middle school weren’t so easy. In fact, all of middle school wasn’t so easy. There was this constant struggle to fit in and to do things right. We all talk about it now: How middle school days were the days that everyone just tried to be cool. And if ignoring your friend or teasing someone you actually care about is the way to become popular, you do it. All to fit in, right?
Don’t you ever wonder why? Why is it that middle schoolers are so mean? I know that its great training for the rest of the world, but what makes kids act this way? I’m actually dealing with a bit of a seven-year-old mean kid, and I wonder if this is in reaction to things he’s seeing on his own, or if its just in his nature. And if it is, how can I get him to be kinder, yet still a tough guy when interacting with some of the other “cool” kids in school?
Have you seen Diary of a Wimpy Kid? What are your Wimpy Kid memories? Enter them below and you could win one of 16 Back to School Backpacks as part of the Fill the Backpack campaign. Backpacks include:
- FoxEntertainment is including both Diary of a Wimpy Kid & Marmaduke DVDs in our backpacks.
- PopChips donated a variety pack of PopChips & variety of coupons to each backpack.
- Every backpack will include BitDefender, security software for your PC.
- Orange Circle Studio is sending winners a “Do it all” planner & a family calendar.
- The backpack will include a variety of notebooks, folders, and binders from Carolina Pad.
- Rose Art is sending you back to school with glitter markers, dry erase board, and fun Color Blanks.
- Every backpack will include a ClassWish.org $25 Credit! Perfect for helping your community’s schools!
- DreamSakes is giving winners 20 free artwork scans! These are a great way to save or share your child’s masterpieces!
- Sun and Earth is sending a sampler pack to each winner.
- FamZoo, an online allowance management site, is including a year long membership
- Simon & Schuster added a great book, “E is for Ethics,” that will have you and your kids thinking!
- The backpack will contain either a LeapFrog Tag Reader with book set and US map, OR a LeapFrog
Explorer with 2 games! (Penguins of Madagascar and Toy Story 3) - Stonyfield Farms included coupons, awesome recycled plastic storage containers, & a few other surprises!
- Silver Dolphin added the “Human Body” book, and “Facts to Annoy your Teacher” books. Both are for kids!
- Sample tastes from Arizona Kids, Bear Naked
, Cal Naturale Svelte, …
… and more to come! I’ll be adding to this list as more products are added by our sponsors
Enter to win this fabulous backpack which has now been over-filled with goodies! To enter:
- Comment to this post, telling one of your Wimpy Kid memories
- on twitter? retweet this post using the green retweet button above. I’ll receive notice that you retweeted, please do not reply about it here.
Want another chance to win? You can enter on the blogs of other Backpack Bloggers, too.
The winning entry will be selected via the contest commenter plugin for wordpress. Winners must be residents of the United States to win and will be contacted at the close of this contest, on August 31 at 10 pm EST. Winner will have 24 hours to reply to the e-mail announcing her win. If she does not respond within 24 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen.
Disclosure: Fill the Backpack is sponsored by Ziploc and 20th Century Fox. Our sponsors have genoruosly contibuted to this campaign through products, monetary compinsation and have made The Dream Classroom Contest possible (cash prizes to be awarded through classwish.org). Participating brands have contributed products to all 8 bloggers and within the 16 backpacks.
© 2010, Julie Meyers Pron. All rights reserved.
most of my school days were wimpy kid moments. we moved often and i was overweight so i was always the fat, new kid.
As a young child I had no problems in school.
But at the age of fourteen I developed severe acne all over my face, neck, back, arms and chest. And was also branded with the name Scarface for about a year.
For me it was the worst thing ever as just looking in the mirror was enough to lower my self esteem without going to school.
But fortunately I had wonderful parents who kept taking me to various Dermatologist.
After about a year I was put on oral medication and into a tanning booth at the doctors office three times per week. Which cleared everything up great and allowed me to lose the nickname as well.
jweezie43[at]gmail[dot]com
being picked on cause my mom had me get a perm in middle school because SHE didnt want to deal with my hair – what a terrible choice!
thanks for sponsoring this.
2kidsblogger(at)gmail(dot)com
I hated it when we had to pick teams in P. E. I was always afraid I’d be the last one picked and sometimes I was. All the popular kids were picked first and then they’d look at the rest of us with scowls on their faces. It was so humiliating!
LuckyTJG@cs.com
Too many wimpy kid moments…always last picked in gym-Walking down high school hallway with my skirt tucked in my panty hose or 6th grade class portrait caught sticking my tounge out at the photograper.
I entered junior high with a big gap between my front teeth, caused by a genetically missing tooth. One of the more popular boys started calling me Mike Tyson and it stuck for a while. I shed many a tear over it.
I unfortunately was a bully and not a wimpy kid..looking back at it, it was pointless, but kids can be mean and dumb.
I was a brain and wore bifocals in the fifth grade. Later, the bifocals were exchanged for thick glasses. So, I was picked on a lot. Things didn’t change until I got contacts before entering high school and then I became popular.
when i was younger i had no one to sit with at lunch so i would hide out in the bathroom
ardelong2(at)gmail(dot)com
Twitter: js22222222
says:
No, I didn’t see the movie.
I had problem feet and had to wear special schools and a lot of the kids made fun of them. Sometimes kids can be so cruel.
Thanks for the giveaway!
trying to fit in with the rest of the kids.one day i put lots of makeup on and everyone laughed at me
amy16323(at)gmail(dot)com
I can remember back in the 6th grade when I got “sucker punched” by the mean girl in my class. We were in line at the end of the day getting ready for dismissal when she hit me for no reason (other than she was just a mean and evil girl!) I’d like to say I got even by punching her back, but that didn’t happen!
nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net
My most embarassing moment was one of the first days of high school. I went to a Catholic school and we had uniforms but for the first day of school we could wear a casual outfit. I shopped with my friend to find the perfect outfit only to discover after lunch that I didn’t take the tag off my pants. It didn’t help that one of the “cool” kids pointed it out to me!
Thanks for the giveaway…I was always the tallest kid in class, and while not wimpy, I did play the part of “protector” to kids who did get picked on…
senorpiero [at] yahoo [dot] com
I had braces, glasses and frizzy hair. Not fun, I also wasn’t very good in gyme so I never got picked to be on a team
I remember getting gum in my hair one time – it was awful – I had to have it cut out and I looked terrible for months.
I haven’t seen it. It was a bummer waiting to be picked for sports.
Ready? It was Junior High, about twenty five years ago, I loved my Pittsburgh Pirates bright yellow plastic batting helmet. I brought it to school, that was a mistake. A coule of “boys” grabbed it and started tossing it back and forth. you can guess what happened next. One of them did not catch it, and it fell to the ground and broke with a large crack in it. It was a long, sad day after that recess, and a longer walk home from school.
I wore glasses and had braces and was chubby so I always tried to hid behind big clothes and books.
I was always the new kid. 8 Elementary schools, 2 junior highs, 2 high schools. So I was always tested with every move and learned quick who I could really be friends with.
I had to wear glasses and weighed 105 lbs soaking wet and had big boobs which I always tried to cover up with jackets and when I was in 7th grade my hair fell out due to a bad perm….life wasn’t good at all
tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com
Twitter: justicecw
says:
One wimpy kid moment I remember was on the first day of back to school one year. I was so excited to be wearing a new back to school outfit. Then at recess I ripped my pants and had a big hole in them. I was embarrassed and so worried that my mom would be made at me. Thanks for the chance!
I was always the shy, awkward kid – once, a boy actually asked me out on a dare! I was so embarassed when I found out. . .fortunately I’m now a happy, well-rounded adult
Thanks for the chance!
In high school, I took the city bus to a private girls high school far from my home (1 hour). I was the only girl who knew NOONE. It took me until sophomore year to make even one friend. By graduation, I had several friends but was never invited to parties because I lived so far from everyone else. I FELT LIKE AN ALIEN!
I remember in 2nd grade I had been caught chewing gum in class. My teacher made me wear the gum on my nose the entire time at recess. While I know I was just a kid and even knew better, I wish I had been a bit stronger instead of allowing something like that to lower my self-esteem. I think the teacher was completely wrong in the way she went about it but it has taught me a valuable lesson. Never degrade a child to the point of them feeling worthless. Even if they have done something wrong. There are plenty of other ways to go about the situation.
Mel4Him777{at}gmail{dot}com
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