Jeremy's "Weird" One

  Over 10 years ago I was a Summer recreation leader and we had a small group of kids that came to the park everyday. One of the things that you want to watch for when you have a group of kids is that nobody is being harassed or bullied. My partner and I were pretty good at nipping that kind of behavior in the bud so all the kids followed the rule if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all.


  This is why it was a surprise when one of the recreation participants, an 8 year old boy named Jeremy, white kid, blonde hair and on the tall side for his age came to me balling. He sniffled as he told me that his friend was making fun of him. I called the other boy over and asked Jeremy what his friend had said,

  "He said my wiener looks weird."


I almost laughed "weird?" I asked.


  The other kid who was a couple years younger with darker hair spoke up,


   "It does, it's long and it curves to the side like this" he said demonstrating the curve with his fingers.


 Jeremy angrily exclaimed "STOP!" he was known to hit when he got upset so I knew I had to put a stop to this so I very simply said,


   "Everybody has a different kind of private part and we should still be nice." I made the other boy apologize and within an hour they were best friends again.


  I never got to see for myself how "weird" things were and I didn't try to. It's just funny to me especially when that younger kid defended himself by saying "It is weird" and then describing in detail why he felt that way. I also never inquired how or where he saw the Jeremy's penis. In the restroom or were they playing a game? I'll never know.


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