Did You Know Anyone With COOTIES as a Child?

I knew a couple growing up in Chicago. They were poor probably and we were mean children but they were always dirty and I couldn't figure that out. Being poor was one thing but they did have places to live. Then again maybe their parents were messed up and didn't bathe them or something. You don;t think about the parents when your a kid though. I was part of the group that made fun and I do regret it now and I hope that those people made something of themselves. I hadn't thought about this ever. I'm sad now... This was a great discussion!

I was a very very quiet kid and so no ...I did not participate in taunting these kids....I actually befriended them and often brought them home. My mother was forever asking me...Where do you find these kids?....Some of them were really nice and just came from really bad situations. There was this one girl in 8th grade that brought dog biscuits to school for snack time. She wore old lady clothes and had really greasy hair and bad teeth. I got picked on terribly becuz I did kind of hang with her. We got into highschool and I never saw her again. A few years ago (I'm 51 now) a beautiful women came into the store that i work at. She looked at me and said ...i know you i think. she said she thought she went to school with me. I looked at her and I really did not recognize her. It was that girl. She remembered me and said that me and one other girl were the only ones that had ever been kind to her and she will never forget us. Come to find out, her mom had passed and she was being abused and molested by her dad. That state had taken her that summer after 8th grade and put her in foster care in another state. Kids are so mean. When my kids got picked on for anything at all ...I just said to them., remember how it feels and don't ever do it to anyone else.

There was a kid in my school who was picked on constantly. I always felt so sorry for him because his family was obviously very poor and always smelled so horrible, like rotten cottage cheese. He also snorted and had gas all the time and would let rip on a regular basis in class. So to say the least he was the school "cootie" king. He was a nice kid but the smell was overwhelming sometimes. We had assigned seating and I was forced to sit next to him in class for 2 yrs in a row. I never complained and never took part in the teasing though it was very hard not to at that age. I'm glad my parents taught me better. One day when we were outside at recess he came up to me and asked me why everyone except me hated him so much. I felt compelled to explain to him that his annoying habits and odd smell offended people. I was rather shocked to find out that he didn't realize he had a smell let alone and offensive one. He also said that his snorting and gas were something he couldn't help. So I told him, "Well, as long as you continue to do it, other kids will make fun of you." Amazingly, within a few weeks his odor improved and he learned to better control his offensive habits. By the time we got to high school many years later, his home situation must have improved because he was downright popular, well dressed and very good looking! The thing I noticed most was that he was always immaculately neat and well groomed. I always felt that he must have taken my words to heart and I was very happy about that and in the long run I'm sure he was too.

lol! I remember having cooties as a child, I was just 5yrs old back then, and my grandma had to cut my hair really short. I'm thankful though because I never suffered from any taunting from other kids. Maybe my playmates were too young to be cruel?

I was one who was accused of having cooties. At the time it made me feel like no one liked me, but as I grew older it did not effect me. At the time though I would do anything to get the other kids to like me, and usually wound up being thought of as being a smarty pants, or too clingy. I finally quit trying so hard to get them to like me and started doing my own thing. Once we got to about 4th grade things changed for the most part, thought it took me to the 6th grade to start changing myself.