Amal Al-Sibai
Saudi Gazette
It is normal for kids to mess up, drop things, fall down, or bump into someone; even adults mess up.
But when it happens at school or in front of a lot of people, it can be really embarrassing.
Imagine your teacher gave you a bunch of books to carry for her and you accidentally slipped and dropped all the books. Your good friends will rush to help you pick them up but some kids will probably laugh at you.
In this moment, you pray for the ground to open and swallow you up, but chances are that is not going to happen.
You could either feel humiliated and let this accident ruin your whole day, or you could get up, brush the dust off your clothes, smile, and finish the task that your teacher gave you.
Some kids shared their most embarrassing moments.
Mishal said: “In sports, I am the only one in class hates playing soccer and I’m not good at it. I just stay on the sides of the soccer field and try not to get into trouble. In the last five minutes of a game, someone kicked the ball at my face. I put my hands up to block the ball from hitting my nose, and by accident I caught the ball! That is a bad mistake in soccer! My team got a penalty, and the other team got the ball and scored a goal. My team lost and they were really mad at me. I was so embarrassed.”
Rima said: “My family and I were having lunch at my favorite restaurant. We had a great meal and we were going to order brownies with vanilla ice cream. A waiter was walking by and he accidentally spilled some hot tea on me. It was hot, but it did not hurt too much. My mother thought that the tea was burning me and she dumped her glass of ice cold water on my lap, and she was making such a fuss that everyone started staring at me. I was soaking wet and totally embarrassed!
Nora said: “My parents love to go shopping for fancy treasures to decorate our house. Once we were in a shop that sells little glass animals. I was bored to death. I turned around to tell my parents that I would wait outside but I accidentally knocked over one of the glass animals and it fell off the shelf and came down with a loud crash. Tiny pieces of glass shattered everywhere. The shop owner started shouting, “You break it, you buy it!!” I thought I would die of embarrassment.”
Dana said: “At my school awards ceremony for the top students, the principal called my name to go up to the stage. When I was half way up the stage, I tripped, fell, and rolled down the stairs. I could hear people laughing at me, I wanted to cry, but I had to go up to the stage to receive my certificate and award.”
0 No matter how embarrassed you are, don’t let it stop you. After you fall, if you freeze, get a red face, and keep your head down, lots of people will probably laugh at you. But if instead you stand up, smile and wave to the crowd, they will probably stop laughing and will be thinking in their heads, “Wow, she really handled that well!”
0 If you make a small mistake, for example, forgetting words in a class play or song, it is best to just continue to the next part and pretend like you didn’t make any mistake. The audience will not even notice that something is wrong or that you messed up. But if you stop, look confused, and stutter, people will start to realize that you made a mistake.
0 When you have a clumsy, embarrassing moment and people are laughing at you, instead of feeling terrible and wanting to cry, you can laugh too! Take it easy, laugh with them! Make funny jokes about what just happened to you.
0 Be confident and remember: making a mistake does not make you less smart. And people are probably laughing at the event that took place and not at you as a person!
You never know; something that may have embarrassed you today may make you laugh tomorrow!
