Giving Our Kids the Power To Stop Bullies

Back in the 1950's when I was a 5th grader moving from a city school to a small rural school, I was teased and tormented by a couple of girls in my new class. My mother told me to stand up in class when one of the girls pinched me or stuck me with a pencil - and call out loudly "Sandy stop it". It worked. The teacher honed in on the bully and when the bully knew I would call attention to them, it didn't happen again. Sadly this only works if the teacher pays attention and believes the bullied child.

I think it is a really good idea because it helps give parents ways to talk to their children. Times have changed since parents were bullied and they way kids get bullied have changed. Not only do kids have to deal with physical bullying at school and also have mass media. Kids post stuff about other kids online, post embarrassing pictures, and even send emails and texts to all their friends. These are things parents did not have to deal with as a kid. This can help show parents the ways kids can be bullied or even bully others. It can inform both parents and kids to help prevent it from ever happening.

You can get a free stop bullying campaign kit. It's designed for kids 9-13 years old, but I think even younger kids would benefit from it. It contains short clips depicting different situations with people being bullied. It's a chance to watch it and discuss it with your kids or your classroom if you're a teacher. It's free and available here: http://www.ask.hrsa.gov/detail_materials.cfm?ProdID=3864

I think it's of utmost importance that parents and schools lobby to make bullying a crime. When I was in school there was no such thing as sexual harassment laws. Now there are laws in place. Boys can't just grab a girls butt without any discipline action. When I was in school it happened all the time. If bullying became a crime, like sexual harassment it would change the environment of every school. Kids should not be afraid to get an education. What happened to Amanda Todd really got kids talking about bullying. I'm glad that her mother is allowing her story to teach parents and students about both bullying and online predators. THERE HAVE TO BE CONSEQUENCES TO BULLYING. IT CAN NOT BE TOLERATED ANY LONGER.

I Hate that this happens

I just wrote a post about school bullying, you can read it at http://www.raisingdickandjane.blogspot.com/2012/10/school-bullying-teach-your-kids-to-make.html

school officials turn a blind eye to this, and only when a child committed suicide do they start raising awareness...the system is completely backwards! and I fear for my own child's safety and learning experience if they were to go to school and this happened to them. I know if my child told me that they were being bullied, I would take this seriously and go to the school myself if i have to. I would write to the board of education, or if it comes down to it, my last resort, the media to expose the lack of attention the school is paying to these types of situations. there is NOT BOUNDS what a parent would do to help/save their own child out of love!

This is only going to be money down the drain! Kids are bullies because they see other people doing it, they see their parents doing it or even teaching them to be the stronger one. For the kids, its about the power and the popularity and its sickening. If a child sticks up for themselves against the bullies, they either get beaten up, or in some cases, suspended by the school because they just happened to be caught and the bullies weren't. I lost count on how many times this happened. The girl on the bus who stuck up for the handicap girl who was getting bullied got suspended. The kid who body slammed the bully to the ground because he finally couldn't handle the countless bullying every single day decided that he wanted to finally stand up for himself got suspended. Some might say 2 wrongs don't make a right, but how about you put yourself in these kids shoes?