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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!) This is a touchy subject; however, you might as well confront it now as the problem will not go away. I would meet the parents and tell them that I understand their cultural beliefs about taking showers. I would tell them that i respect their right to raise their child however they saw fit. However, I would also tell them some of the problems their child is going to encounter because of his body odor. I would tell them that the problems would more than likely get worse as the child got older. The parents are free to do what they like as you cannot make them give their child a shower. However, at least they will know the likely cause of why their child is being made fun of. |
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