Pain
Every quarter a column of mine appears in the Meerlingen Magazine of the NVOM (Dutch Association for Parents van Meerlingen). This week the first magazine of this year fell on the mat with the members of the NVOM. Because I received a lot of comments on my column, I decided to place it here too, so that my column reaches even more people.
“Are you sick in your head?” “Sick in my head? Sick in his head is that brother of yours!”
Noud has been in bed for 3 weeks now. Because of the pain he can't do anything anymore. He comes through the days listening to music via YouTube and Spotify. Music has a soothing effect on pain. Because of the pain he is cranky and wants to be alone. Ever since Noud's care unit was placed (June 2018) Wout no longer sleeps upstairs, he still wants to sleep with Noud. Noud and Wout sleep in a large bed and Wout is not going to sleep in another bed. “It's also my bed!” The bond between Noud and Wout is very close, the harder it is now for Wout to watch helplessly at his brother and be scolded when Noud thinks that Wout is bumping into his feet. There is. It is above childbirth pain and pain when amputation or cancer. Sometimes when you walk along his feet he screams it out of pain and accuses you of running into it.
We notice that Wout is getting quieter. Last week before going to bed, Wout burst into crying He did not want to go to school anymore, but stay with Noud. After long questions, the high word came out. Wout is systematically bullied by 5 boys in the classroom. One of the boys has been using Wout as a punching ball for weeks and just likes to hit and kick him. That explains like the many bruises on Wout's body that he always muddled away when fallen or happened during the gym. Wout gave a hard time not to strike back. “Don't you say anything to them when they bully you?” "Mom, of course I tell them to stop. I even said, Stop it! Are you sick in your head?, but then he said, “Sick in his head is that brother of yours! He can't even walk through his sick head!" Wout began to cry louder. “I just have trouble not fighting back, because when I fight back that is what the master sees and they are five of them and they twist everything, so that I end up being punished and they don't”. There goes your mother's heart. Your dear son, who is so caring and is already on his toes at home, has a lot worse to endure in school. Emma caught the whole story and the steam has come out of her ears. “Who is it?” “I will teach him a lesson!”
