‘Four Eyes!” “Freak!” “Nerd” You will hear these names bandied about any schoolyard across the country. Children are notoriously mean to those who are different. The children lucky enough to fall into the elite crowd spend day after day taunting those who are unfortunate to fall into the “freaks and geeks” category.

What happens, though, when a child finds herself moving from the elites to the freaks? What happens when she finally accepts that she is different from all of her friends?

In the new NBC drama, Medium, these questions are at the forefront of the plots surrounded two of the children. Psychic Allison Dubois is mother to three daughters, two of which show signs of sharing Allison’s unique gift.

The oldest daughter, Ariel, fights her talents, hoping that she can blend in with her “normal” friends. She teases her sister mercilessly, and fills her days with the typical things of a girl her age. Yet she harbours a secret, one that will not remain hidden much longer.

It started with reading her father’s mind when he quizzed her on math facts. It progressed to frightening dreams about fairy tale monsters and a trapped girl. The dreams did not stay where they belonged, in the scary darkness of night; they haunted her even at school.

As Ariel’s body heads towards puberty and her mental abilities grow, how will she handle things? One of these alone would be difficult enough to deal with, but combining the two could prove disastrous. Hopefully, we will get to watch.

The middle daughter, Bridgette, has her own share of abilities, the most memorable being a dead friend. Psychologically she is too young to know what impact seeing and speaking with the dead will have on her social development. It is good that she is still at an age where imaginary friends are commonplace. How soon though before the taunting she receives at home, from Ariel, begins at the school?

The girls are unable to hide from their talents, and are too young to realize that people may not understand the gifts. The concern of not only the reaction and interaction of peers but of those helping to shape the lives of these two young girls is valid. If the staff at the school treats the girls with a prejudice due to their peculiar abilities, how will that affect the education the girls receive now as well as in the future?

Once a person finds a label stamped to their forehead, no amount of scrubbing seems to take it off. The road these girls walk has a plethora of potholes. The responsibility of both parents expands, to ensure that their children grow up mentally and socially healthy.

No one said parenting would be easy. Children with special needs are even harder, especially when the world at large does not readily accept the situation.