Today is Mother’s Day, which has me thinking about the many ways of being a mother in today’s world, and about the concept of a “parenting identity” — which may or may not correspond with one’s gender identity. Mothers traditionally are female — but mothers today include transgender men who…
Professor bullied as a boy at a Rochford school writes book to help other children Proud – Patricia Matthews with a copy of her son’s book that is aimed at helping children who have been bullied The book- Egghead 2 hrs ago / Kristina Drake Share: 1 comment Want more local news stories like these via email? Your email address Sign up A PROFESSOR has described how he was relentlessly bullied through his school years in a new book to help children overcome the problems he faced. Michael Lacey-Freeman, now 52, has written an 80-page educational book called Egghead describing his experience of being picked on. He says the aim of the book is to get a clear message across: “If you are a victim of bullying, tell your family. Don’t keep it to yourself, and don’t believe what the bullies say. They don’t know you.” Mr Lacey-Freeman was bullied while attending Holt Farm Junior and Infant School in Rochford, where he was called “Egghead” due to the shape of his head. But he has turned the nasty name around and used it as the title of his book. The story is set in the early 1970s. It is about a young boy who is constantly bullied at school from the age of seven, both mentally and physically. School for this boy is a question of survival – it is about getting through the day. Patricia Matthews, Michael’s mum, said the book is called Egghead because that is the nick name Michael was given when he was bullied. She says he was bullied due to having a misshapen head because he was born with a different bone structure. The 74-year-old, who lives in Rochford Garden Way, said: “He wants to help the other kids. He went through so much. I’m very proud of him.” Things finally got better for Mr Lacey-Freeman when his teacher suspected something was wrong and convinced him to tell his family. He is now living in Italy and teaching English as well as writing. He explained: “The story is mostly true. I should know, because that young boy was me. “When you are very young, you tend to believe that what others say about you is true. You don’t question it and you have little or no defence. Because of the constant taunts of my peers, I believed that I was worthless, a failure, a freak. I believed that I was unacceptable. “Because of this, at first I kept it all to myself. I didn’t think I could tell my family – then they would also think that I was worthless. I suffered by myself. I tried to deal with the bullying by making myself as small as possible. I would sit by the window, looking out, waiting for the school day to end.” Mr Lacey-Freeman said he didn’t want to criticise the school. He added: “It was a good school with excellent teachers. In fact one of my teachers noticed this small boy sitting by the window, and convinced me to tell my family about the bullying. Once my mother knew, bless her heart, things got a little better. I was no longer alone, and I felt stronger.” The author added: “If even only one child connects with the story and feels less alone, then I will be happy.” The book has been very successful so far and sold out on Amazon but is available online at Waterstones and eurobooks.co.uk for £8.50. Share: 1 comment Promoted stories N. Korea deploys ballistic missile for possible Fri. launch: Yonhap Nikkei Asian Review Adopted daughter reveals 15-year secret relationship with birth mother IrishCentral Bangladesh’s solution to children drownings. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. The cop who forced Target to drop their ludicrous Irish t-shirts IrishCentral Apple spurs industry shift to low-power display technology Nikkei Asian Review Tricks To Make Your Glassware Shine World Kitchen Recommended by People who read this article also read Tourists “detained” by mob – for taking photos of seafront Tourists “detained” by mob – for taking photos of seafront Teenager arrested after ten mile chase in golf buggy Teenager arrested after ten mile chase in golf buggy UPDATED: Road closed after accident along Southchurch Avenue UPDATED: Road closed after accident along Southchurch Avenue Westcliff school head girl dies age 18 Westcliff school head girl dies age 18
A PROFESSOR has described how he was relentlessly bullied through his school years in a new book to help children overcome the problems he faced. Michael Lacey-Freeman, now 52, has written an 80-page educational book called Egghead describing his experience of being picked on. He says the aim of the…
OnePlus X name confirmed by OnePlus executive; phone could be unveiled October 12th
The third OnePlus handset, the one that co-founder Carl Pei said would be out around Christmas, has been dubbed the OnePlus X. Now, a teaser found on the Weibo page of company CEO Liu Zuohu seems to confirm the name. The teaser shows a screenshot of a map, with four…
HTC One A9 name confirmed by Exif data
Exif data from a photograph allegedly taken by the HTC One A9, confirms the name of the handset along with some of the specs on the phone’s rear-facing camera. While Exif data can be faked, the information that was seemingly generated by the device’s camera shows that as expected, the…
Lenovo to stop using the Motorola DROID name in China
Responding to an inquiry on his Weibo site, Lenovo Group Vice President Chen Xudong said that the “DROID series has no further plans to introduce or maintain new smartphones.” That proclamation is for China only. In the U.S., the Motorola DROID name still has some value and the line remains…
Small marketing company asks Apple to skip the iPhone 6s name and go to iPhone 7
The big sign on Times Square contains a plea to Apple, asking them to call the next iteration of its smartphone the Apple iPhone 7. The same message was spotted on a truck parked in front of the glass Apple Store in the Big Apple (of course). So who is…
HTC One A9 to be the final name of the deca-core Aero smartphone
The HTC Aero is an unannounced smartphone that’s supposed to be officially unveiled sometime later this year as one of the world’s first devices to be powered by the deca-core (that’s 10 cores) MediaTek Helio X20 processor. Not long ago, we heard that the Aero could be called HTC A9….
Leaked iPhone 6s packaging slip confirms name, and a 16 GB base model again
There will be many hardware upgrades with the upcoming iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets, but storage won’t be one of them, it seems. After spilled schematics confirmed that the iPhone 6s will still come in 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB versions, now a leaked iPhone 6s packaging…
Video hints at Marshmallow as the name of the next Android build?
On Friday, we showed you a video made by two Googlers that contained a catchy tune “What’s M Gonna Be?” If we had a streaming music service for our readers, it probably would go straight to number one. So what will Android M be? According to one of our loyal…
How to remove the network name from the Moto G status bar
Here’s a quick one for peeps who don’t want or need more status bar clutter on their new Moto G. By default, the name of the network you’re currently attached to will be perched in the upper left, taking room many feel is best left for notifications. If you want…