Fifi Box burst into tears live on-air on Wednesday while listening to one listener’s heartbreaking story.
Nicole from Burnside Park called in to The Fox’s Fifi Fev & Nick to describe her son Jake’s struggles with relentless bullying at school on Wednesday.
Nicole revealed her 12-year-old son has been unable to leave the house due to the emotional toll the bullying has taken on him.
‘My son Jake has had a year from hell, to be honest,’ she began.
‘I’m driving my other kids to school this morning and he’s at home. I couldn’t get him out of bed.’
Mother-of-one Fifi empathised with Nicole’s situation.
The beloved Australian radio presenter has two daughters – Trixie, 11, who she shares with former partner Grant Kenny, and Daisy, four, who was conceived with IVF and donor sperm.
‘He spent last night opening up to me and telling me how he’s struggling,’ Nicole continued.
Fifi Box burst into tears live on-air on Wednesday while listening to one listener’s heartbreaking story
‘But I’m at a loss, the amount of bullying in his year level is out of this world.
‘Now, I have a kid who wants to give up everything he loves because no matter what he does, he feels it’s just another thing to be picked on about.
‘He’s an amazing kid, he loves basketball, but he has no one to play with.’
Fifi was so deeply moved that she broke down in tears listening to Nicole’s story.
‘Nicole, that’s so upsetting. That really upset me,’ she said.
‘There is nothing worse than not being able to get your child out the door in the morning and you’ve got to keep functioning, you’ve got to go to work, you can’t sit there with them and make life better.’
Nicole from Burnside Park called in to The Fox’s Fifi Fev & Nick to describe her son Jake’s struggles with relentless bullying at school on Wednesday
‘He’s 12! Twelve with the weight of the world on his shoulders,’ Fifi continued.
‘He should be running to school. He should be excited about it. Just to get your son out of bed, Nicole, we would love Jake to be one of our Underdogs! Do you think that’s something he’d like to do?’
In a heartwarming gesture, Fifi offered Jake a place on The Underdogs, a team designed to give kids excluded from sports due to bullying or health issues a chance to shine.
‘Nicole, tell him he’s in our team. We want him. He can get out of bed tomorrow. We want him, please tell Jake that,’ she said.
Mother-of-one Fifi empathised with Nicole’s situation. The beloved Australian radio presenter has two daughters – Trixie, 11, who she shares with former partner Grant Kenny, and Daisy, four, who was conceived with IVF and donor sperm
Bullying has become a hot-button topic in recent months, with Aussie parents reaching out to one another for support and guidance in the face of what feels like an insurmountable problem.
In September, Sydney schoolgirl Charlotte took her own life in the face of relentless school bullying at Santa Sabina College.
This month, 14-year-old Isla Marschke, from Queensland, tragically took her own life.
Isla’s school principal said she was ‘undoubtedly’ being bullied.
TV presenter Barry Du Bois recently shared a gut-wrenching story about his own family’s turmoil.
‘What do you say to a child when you’ve already said, “Don’t let them upset you. Just keep being kind. You are not the horrible things they say”.’
‘She said, “I don’t want to be special; I just want to be liked”,’ Barry added.
The Living Room star, 64, made the vulnerable admission about the helplessness parents feel when their child is the victim of school bullying on Instagram.
He admitted struggling to find a way to help his 12-year-old daughter Arabella, who is being bullied at school.
