(NOTE: this post was started as another idea....After seeking some opinions on the content, I chose to change it up a bit so as not to stir up too much controversy.)
I am a Generation X kid. I grew up during the height of grunge where the best music was booming out of Seattle. I was having a flashback day the other day and revisiting my youth through my music. Upon doing so I came across an old fave. Jeremy, by Pearl Jam.
(If you haven't heard it, where the hell were you in the 90's? If you have well then it's been awhile so let me refresh your memory.)
So you see, this song got me to thinking......Do you think Jeremy was depressed from being bullied?? A bad home life to boot??
Bullying is a very real, and very sad issue facing so many young people today. Many schools boast a "Zero Tolerance for Bullying" but it isn't always enforced. I hear all too many horror stories of children who lose their lives to bullying. Either at the hands of the bully, or at their own hands because they feel they can no longer take it.
Just last year a boy my step son attending school with, took his own life. He did this because he was being bullied at school, and he could no longer take it. So he took his life.......what is our world coming too?????
Have you heard the story of Bailey? The young man who was beaten so badly by a bully that he had a concussion. This resulted in seizures where doctors had to place him into a coma. His brain gave up and could no longer fight and on March 3rd (one day after he turned TWELVE) he passed away! (to leave a comment for the family, or a donation to help with expenses, please CLICK HERE.
This saddens me. This enrages me. What is our world coming too???? I fear ever sending my son to school. What with school shootings, and with bullies!!! My son is 6 and has already been bullied. At home, by a neighbor kid. When we sat this child down, he cried and revealed that HE was being bullied at school, and" wanted to make other kids feel the way those kids made me feel." How sad is that?? It's a viscous cycle and it NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!!!!
What can you do?? Well, as a parent, you can educate your child about bullying. You can teach them right from wrong. Teach them to stand up for others. Teach them to get help. Whether it be through you, a teacher, a counselor at school.
Schools also NEED to step it up! Don't claim you have "Zero Tolerance for Bullying" and then let it go on right under your noses. Step up, look around, pay closer attention. I know teachers have their hands full with such large class room sizes these days, but there has to be some way of preventing these deaths.
I think that maybe if each teacher were to stand outside their classrooms between periods, and watch the students, then maybe, just maybe this could be prevented, or even caught so something could be done.
Have an assembly, play the movie BULLY for the older kids. Make them pledge to stand up for bullying. Let them know this is not the way the world works, and that sort of treatment will NOT be tolerated!
Liam attends a cyber school, and even they had an assembly on bullying. They even played the video Liam asked me to help him make about his experience with bullying.
We all know that high school years and puberty are very tough. (having been there ourselves once, we know first hand.) It's not a wonder these kids are being targeted, and that some just can't handle it. It's so very sad!!!! So maybe we need to start reaching out to the younger generation more as well. Teach them all we can about bullying so that when they are in their teen years they are more aware, and less likely to bully, or be bullied. (here is a GREAT book for younger kiddos. Liam has it and LOVES it....Billy Bully
We have to take a stand. As parents, as educators, as counselors, as communities, as people who give a damn about what our world is coming too.
Don't let another child like Bailey lose his life. Don't let another child like Jeremy take his life, and be just a memory in a song. Let our children grow up. Let them be safe. Let them flourish. Let them be who they are without fear of being teased or taunted.......
here are some things on Pinterest in regards to bullying... CLICK HERE
"I think that maybe if each teacher were to stand outside their classrooms between periods, and watch the students, then maybe, just maybe this could be prevented, or even caught so something could be done."
ReplyDeleteHow you are! My son, at his old school, was bullied horribly. It went to the point of assault, but we weren't always in the know. Thing is, the children were taught at school not to tattle... my Autistic son took this very literally...
Morgan told us, after learning of genies in bottles, if he had three wishes they would be "walk to classes with no hitting, punching, or tripping. No head hitting the wall. No r-word." I was livid. The principals were told by my husband and I that charges of negligence and child abuse would be pressed. We changed schools, obviously, when we moved to another state. Things are better now, but he still has nightmares. Bullying all too often goes into the territory of assault and is too loosely defined.
I am so sorry to hear of Morgan's bullying, it breaks my heart!!!! Liam's was very, but did escalate to physically. Thankfully, as soon as it happened, he came running and screaming for momma, so it was taken care of promptly. Sad thing is, as I said, the kid doing this to him was being bullied. We called the mother, she did NOTHING, so hubs and I called the school and reported it for the child. He is now in counseling at school, and he states that the bully is leaving him alone....
Deletesad stuff, Courtney. We try to make Emma a "better neighbor"...more tolerant, more patient, more understanding, and she has a leg up on her peers because her little sister is "different" and she's FIERCELY protective of her. But it's hard for these kids. They're starting to notice kids are different. They're starting to want to deflect attention from their own differences by pointing out the differences in others because it's the EASIEST thing to do.
ReplyDeleteParents have to talk to their kids...but it only works if everyone's doing it. Teachers have to provide safe learning environment...but you hear too many stories where the bully in the story is the teacher him/herself!