A Brave Young Man
My heart aches when I think of both kids who have been bullied and kids who bully. I want to wrap them in my arms and give them a hug and tell them they are awesome and that someone cares and that I could make their troubles go away. If only it were that easy! What seems to be more effective recently is that awareness is becoming more of a school/family effort. Teachers and students are concentrating their efforts to recognize and stand up to bullying. More importantly, schools and teachers are promoting acceptance and individuality - the best tool of all to overcome the effects kids have on each other! Here are a few items I have come across that promote anti-bullying.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111205/jonah-mowry-viral-video-gay-cutting-suicide-111205/
A Lesson in Bullying
A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. ...Now even though they said ......they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.