Q: My 5-year-old daughter studies in the 1st standard. For the past 15 days, she gets up at night once in 2-3 days, shivering and telling (not clearly) that her friends force her to do something which she does not like and a boy throws her things. She has done this 4 times in the past few days. During the day time she explains that 2-3 friends force her to talk and a boy throws her things always. This happens during the PT classes and that's why she doesn't like going for PT. We are planning to talk to the teacher. Please advise.

A:Please do check with the school immediately about what happens in unsupervised PT periods. The school may not be willing to admit that the period is not supervised, but if it were, the children could not tease and bully your child so easily. This is the age when some children are curious about how boys and girls are different. Your child may have been asked to lift up her skirt, for instance. I am only guessing, not stating a fact. You will have to get the child relaxed at home and ask her what happened. Why does the boy throw her things around? What are the girls forcing her to do? Obviously your child has been disgusted, scared and/or unhappy or she wouldn't be waking up in the middle of the night with fear. If the Class teacher does not take any action, you must insist on seeing the Principal to put your case before her. Long stretches of time in unsupervised play for children in 1st standard has its problems and the school should be made aware. Don't be worried about being identified as a trouble-maker! The battle you fight will help your child and lots of other children like her. But do the whole thing tactfully, without humiliating anybody in the process. All the best.