Bullying

Bullying is something that some of our children face daily when away at school, or when playing with other children.   It is a subject that we all should be out in front of so we can help provide a safer world our children deserve to grow up in.  I say this because so many of our children are bullied when they are away at school, and so many of them will not report the bullying to their parents or school officials.   Or, in certain situations when it is reported, it goes unpunished, or there is ineffective punishment.  It is astonishing to know that some of the people whose duty it is to protect our children from victims of bullying seem to have been missing in action.  Those teachers, counselors, and principals have not always responded to the child who is being bullied in a positive way.  However, I find encouragement in knowing that the spotlight is on this subject, and there is a zero tolerance for bullying in many of our schools.

We have heard of cases where children who were bullied became so depressed they felt the only way to free themselves was to take their own life.  One recent case was that of a young teenage boy named Jamey Rodemeyer.   Jamey was constantly bullied by members of his peers and decided to put an end to it once and for all by taking his own life.  The unfortunate thing about Jamey is that he was continued to be picked on by those bullies even after his death.  He was openly mocked, despite his death.  The comments made by the bullies susggested that they were glad he was dead.  Watch his sister’s interview with Anderson Cooper here.  "http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/27/video-jamey-rodemeyers-sister-bullying-continued-after-suicide/?hpt=ac_t5"

Also, Anderson Cooper hosted a town hall meeting on bullying which aired on CNN yesterday.   In the show, there was much discussion about “holding teen bullies accountable.”   The discussion on bullying revealed that not only the child that is being bullied needs help, but the person or group of people who are doing the bullying need to be helped as well. It seems that the bullies have problems that are difficult for them to handle, and they act out aggressively by picking on someone else.  Watch Anderson Cooper’s town hall behind the scenes show about bullying here:   http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/07/video-inside-andersons-stop-bullying-town-hall/?iref=allsearch

There is a website that offers an award winning book; ‘Don’t Feed the Bullies’ written by Brad Tassell.  It is available for purchase in an e-book format for only two dollars. The book’s author won the Top Choice Award for Best Teen Novel from flamingnet.com.   It discourages bullying, teaches children how to respond to bulling and is written in a light hearted and humorous style which makes easy reading for middle school children.  Also it is good for parents and school authorities to read as well.  So for only two dollars it is well worth the investment, plus there are other books available, including audio books.  So you can visit dontfeedthebully.com to buy a down load coppy for only two dollars.

Have a great day everyone.  Thanks for visiting.