SHORT STORY ON BODY SHAMING

Age group: 8 to 15 yrs

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Hitesh was 11 years old and was new to school. One of the reasons that Hitesh was worried
about coming to a new school was because when he was small child, he had got sick and as a
result he had to now use a wheelchair. He had experienced being shamed by others before
and was nervous about it happening again.
He immediately noticed the silence that echoed throughout the classroom when he entered
class for the first time and began to feel even more nervous than before. He could see the
others students in class look at him and whisper among themselves. His teacher announced
that they had a new student in class and she asked him to introduce himself and say a few
sentences about his hobbies. Hitesh moved to the front of the class and proceeded to
introduce himself.
The first dew days nobody wanted to be friends with Hitesh. Other students called him names
and during recess or sports period when the students played football they would kick the ball
to him, just to make fun of him.
The teacher noticed this and decided to have a class on body positivity. She explained to the
students that everyone is the same, even though we may look different. But ultimately, we are
all human and we should treat everyone with respect.
During recess, Hitesh’s classmate Rahul, came up to him with a group of his friends. “When
you introduced yourself, you said you liked playing videogames,” Rahul said. “Would you
like to join us for a game in the evening?”
Hitesh smiled and nodded and they all sat together for lunch break. Rahul and his group
apologized for making fun of Hitesh and said that it would never happen again and asked if
they could be friends with him.
~~