Thanks to The Bully Project for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website to join the movement and learn more.
We hear quite a bit about the subject of bullying in the news. It is nothing new. Bullying has been around since kids have been around, which is well… forever. Each year about 13 million kids are bullied. I know when I was in school we had a couple of class bullies. Even if you were not personally affected by bullies, if you watch movies you know that bullies choose to pick on children smaller than that, “less cool”, or much smarter. They also pick on kids that they consider different.
Bullying is not fair to anyone. The kids affected are scarred emotionally. Sometimes they are physically hurt. Bullying can also lead to death. In the news just yesterday was the story of a teen who had been bullied for years by a group called “wolf pack” in his town of Corpus Christi, TX. He took his own life last month.
Bullying is not limited to IRL (in real life) either. Bullying can occur online too. Social Media makes it easy to pick on peers either out in the open, or secretly. Bullies think that hiding behind their online profile keeps them a secret. Or sometimes they just don’t care. They taunt their victims on their Facebook pages, Twitter account, Myspace pages, or via email. One of the biggest stories of the past few years was surrounding a 13 year old girl that killed herself after being bullied on Myspace. She thought that she was befriended by a new boy in town. They became online friends, and she fell hard for him. But once things were good, the tone changed and he started to tease her and call her a bad person. She hung herself in her bedroom closet. It turned out that the boy was not real. The Myspace account was setup by the mother of a rival teenager who wanted revenge for her daughter. Yes, a grown-up. Some grown-ups never learn. So, bullying is not limited to children.
Although my children are young I already hear stories that sound like bullying. I am sure to tell my kids about what is good behavior and bad behavior between classmates. They know to report incidents to teachers, and to help their friends.
The Bully Project Movie shares the story of 5 people whose lives were affected by bullying. The movement tells us what to do about bullying. Check out the trailer for the movie below:
Check out The Bully Project website to learn more and to join the movement against bullying.
Disclosure: I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. Find showings in your area for The Bully Project and buy tickets here.
A lot of lives (both for the younger and older generations) are ruined because of bullying. Not only in reference to online bullying but also to the real and personal attacks done by conscienceless people. Have you ever joined any anti-bullying organizations?