This may sound a bit childish and ridiculous but I'll explain what my kindergarten teacher did to me that made me feel bullied.

Mind you, this was back in 1961. Seems there were a lot of old gray haired ladies as teachers back then and boy they were something else! We had a 2 stall bathroom in our classroom. I was in it one day, doing my thing and I never heard another child come into the bathroom. I came out, washed my hands and we had it ingrained into us that when we leave the bathroom to turn out the light. So, that's what I did. I walked out and turned the light off without realizing there was another kid in the bathroom.

This kid screamed bloody murder as the door shut behind me and before I could react and turn the light back on, the teacher came over to the door, turned the light on and her face was all screwed up looking at me and she was angry! She grabbed my arm, dragged me back to my chair, sat me down hard and began to berate me for the horrible thing I had just done. I was made to sit in the classroom when the rest of them went out to recess. I could see them all having fun and playing while I sat there crying, contemplating how badly I had behaved. Honestly, I was scared to death at that point. My own parents had never grabbed me and dragged me to a chair before or anywhere for that matter.

There was yet another situation later in the school year where she also berated me in front of the classroom, made fun of me, told me I couldn't partake in ice cream day and I had to sit in the classroom again while everyone else was outside eating ice cream. I know I was crying because one of the kitchen workers passed by our room and heard me. She came into the room and asked what was wrong and I told her how horrible I must have been. She was so sweet, she gave me a hug and said, "wait right here, I'll be right back". When she came back she had an ice cream for me and she told me I didn't have to pay the 10cents for it that the other kids had to pay. I had to eat it quickly before the class came back in but boy did it taste sweet and special.

Here I am, almost 60 years old and I remember those experiences like they happened yesterday. I am not usually one to place blame on someone like this but that teacher did all she could do to ruin my school experience to the point where I was afraid to join in, I was afraid to voice my opinions, I was afraid to be called on in class in case I was to be berated, laughed at, discouraged, bullied and anything else that my young mind could conger up. Believe me, the kids in that classroom all enjoyed laughing at me and making fun of me after those 2 incidents.

School just sucked after all that!

(I did have a 3rd grade teacher that was an absolute love. She was older and gray haired but was kind and calm and sweet.)