My son is very sensitive and likes many feminine things. How should I react to finding out he is made fun of at school for this?

My son is now 15. When he was 7, he liked to put on my pantyhose, stretch them over his body, and he said they were soft and felt good. He liked to play with his big sister's makeup and put on mascara and paint his nails until he was about 11 years old.

He was horrible at sports (though we had a basketball net in the driveway and he loved to play that, but wasn't good at it) and had decided to quit the soccer team, because he was tired of being made fun of. He was teased a lot. In fourth grade and again in sixth grade, some of the kids called him a sissy and said he was gay.

They also called him a mama's boy. It's tough when boys are younger. However, at 15 now.... He's got the deepest voice of all his male friends, the little girls love his sensitive side, and he's stopped playing with makeup and pantyhose.

Here's the deal... I never made a big deal out of those things, like you say, no stereotypes. Yes, he was teased sometimes. Yes, it hurt.

But I was there for him and open to talking about it. I explained to him that all of our action have consequences, some good, some not so good, and some downright wrong and mean. People calling him gay and sissy and mama's boy were doing so in ugly ways, and he had choices: 1) Put up with it and get depressed or angry 2) Stand up for himself and do what he wants and not let them bother him or 3) choose to change the behavior that makes them make fun of him in public, but do what he wants in private and lastly 4) be patient and wait until he finds good friends who feel and act and like the same things he does.

And my son chose to do a little of each of these things, depending on the situation. Now, at 15, he has a core group of friends who understand and 'get' him, he's still more sensitive than most boys I know but he's not so sensitive as he once was, and he is able to discover who he really is. I support him in that.It took me years to realize there was nothing wrong with me, but that I was just surrounding myself with the wrong people.

I was able to teach that to my son and though there were some tough years for him (pre-teen and jr. high times) we came through them, and he's a happy and well-adjusted teenager on the other side. Your son will get through them too - just stay true to what you believe and let him be himself, be there for him when he's hurting because someone doesn't understand him, and know that he will eventually find a core group of folks who 'get' him. Lastly - though I disagree with EVERYTHING else the person said in the refuted fact I made to the other poster, consider martial arts.

If you find the right coach for it, it's all about raising self esteem, controlling yourself and dealing with anger and frustration (which he might start feeling if he's picked on regularly), and also gives one the self confidence to know they can defend themselves but also know they don't have to. Be careful to choose the right program though - some of them actually teach 'fighting' and that's not what martial arts are about.My son really loves them, and it's good exercise and your son might just make a friend through there who is experiencing similar issues. Take heart.... the pre-teen and teen years don't last forever and you're raising a boy who is going to be a great MAN!

Introduce him to more activities like music,ballet and martial arts. Martial arts is important to learn self defense. If the other kids know that they will not dare to bully him, I think.Is he an only child?

If he has siblings, encourage him to play with them. If my child likes music more, then I will send him to learn more about music. Maybe an instrument or two or may be for vocal.

When he has more abilities, he will have more friends. Be active in the school council. If he like any sports, give him some opportunity to participate in it.

People behave differently. But a pre-teen should not be laughed at by peers. Ask him to participate in more clubs at school, like math club, science club etc. He don't have to be the "boyish" boy in those.

Also, chess will be good idea.It all will improve his personality and confidence. When one is so confident, others will find it difficult to put him down. Since he finds himself good in many things, he will never get disinterested in school.

Try to invite his class mates for sleep overs or parties. Encourage him to have more friends. It is very important for his present life.

Be supportive. He needs you to be there to listen, to be his strength. Peace!

I would try to introduce him to normal guy things and get him into mixed martial arts, I do it and I love it, if he doesn't have a father than I would find him a father figure to show him guy things, also encourage him to find a sport and pray he's not gay lol.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.