National Bullying Awareness Week

Every time I hear about how “kids will be kids” and how “teasing” is a normal part of childhood, I get pretty ticked off. Sure, there’s teasing in between friends—the gentle kind, things like “Oh, someone’s got a crush on Mr. Smith!” It’s all in good fun, it’s usually in private—and it doesn’t result in kids being too scared to go to school.

If we want a violence-free world, we have to raise violence-free kids. This means teaching that bullying is wrong all of the time, violence is never the answer. I’m not saying that a kid should put his hands over his head and just sit there as he gets beat up—I know that’s what we were taught in school, and that if you do that you’re probably going to get picked on even worse. But suspending a kid for fighting isn’t that great of a punishment. So he gets a few days off of school, so what? What has he learned?

The sad thing is that many of these kids learn to be bullies at home or from their peers. I know when I bullied a girl in middle school, I am ashamed to admit, it was due to the other kids in class not liking her—I didn’t even really know her. I really wish I could go back in time and take back the things I said and wrote about her, which I can now see as being stupid and juvenile.

We can prevent this from happening with our own kids. I don’t remember ever being talked to about bullying until I actually committed the act myself. That should never be the case. Just as with drugs, alcohol, sex, and every other potentially destructive encounter our kids can have, bullying should be discussed well before it happens.

Love Our Children USA has launched a new site to combat bullying. Stomp Out Bullying provides more information about teaching about nonviolence, as well as an opportunity to sign the pledge to never bully.

On October 5, the organization is also hosting Blue Shirt Day, a holiday coined by Love Our Children USA and confirmed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York.  The shirts will signify the commitment Americans have against bullying.

Be sure to wear a blue shirt on October 5 to help spread the Stomp Out Bulling message, and visit the website for more information and talking points.