Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Smelly Kid I guess I am still considered a novice teacher because I have been teaching for four years only. I am an elementary school teacher who teaches in a mostly White suburban setting. Couple of weeks ago a new student joined my classroom. He and his parents recently moved from Eastern Europe. His father works at the local university as a music professor. I am not sure what his mother does. He is a wonderful child. Although he speaks little English, he tries to participate in class activities and to make friends with others in the classroom. Couple days after he arrived, I noticed a strange smell around him. I was sure that it was body odor. The other students in the classroom started noticing it too. They started making fun of him. I learned in my multicultural classes when I was at the university that not all cultures promote taking showers everyday, and that body odor is not considered a problem everywhere in the world. Now I have a big dilemma. If I tell my student about it, I might embarrass him. If I sent a note to his parents, I may appear disrespectful toward their culture. But the way he is treated in the classroom by the other students is becoming a real problem. What should I do? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I think that this situation can be handled a variety of ways. If the class is filled with older students like in the 4th or 5th grade I would have the personal talk about having good hygiene. If you yourself do not feel comfortable I am sure your school counselor would be willing to have the talk with them. At this age I think that it is common because their bodies are changing. If the student is younger then I strongly recommend having a conference. I think talking to the child about it may be over stepping and the student could take it the wrong way and go home and tell his parents. I think having them come in and have a face to face meeting about the issue is a lot better because they can share some light on what their culture might believe and you could shed some light in how it is affecting the class as well as him personally. I also think that it is imperative no matter what the age of students to talk to students about bullying and making good choice.