I went to the store yesterday and found several anti-bullying campaigns.
All separate, unrelated to one another.
First one was some fancy gum that’s packaging boasted putting over 25,000 students through anti-bullying classes,
The second was a donation jar placed next to a coffee place, it seemed a little suspect as there were no details, just some bland “anti-bullying” logo and a picture of very happy children of mixed races.
Then I saw two cars in the parking lot with the word “BULLY” inside a red circle with a slash. (Like the no smoking signs.)
When did this happen and is it really the right thing for our children?
I always thought bullying was a normal part of growing up,
It teaches coping skills you use as an adult, and toughens you up.
Of course kids need to learn not to be jackasses, but shouldn’t they get that lesson naturally, by picking on the wrong kid and getting punched/humiliated?
I’m not sure that this campaign is doing anyone any favors.
I’ve been reading a lot of news article about children/teens committing suicide from bullying.
So I have to politely disagree with you on this one.
I think anti-bullying campaigns are good, but I’m unsure about their effectiveness as a lot of people grow up and still act like tough guys or jackasses.
I have no problem that I was bullied because I am alive and better than ever, but not everyone can suffer the same fate, so I’m all for bullying going away.
We should teach them about both!!! Internet ■■■■■■ up me up bad in High School but I’ve made good use of it now and it’s very beneficial if used properly IMO.
My thing is: Why does the bully bully anyone in the first place? Chances are he/she is dealing with their own personal sufferings as well. We got that kind of perspective from stories in the past, but now we don’t have anyone telling the story of the other side.
If you deal with that, then you can deal with the source of the problem so that they can get along.
Then the other problem I have with these movements is that they don’t teach the person who has been wronged how to turn their pain into something constructive/healing. They don’t tend to the person who suffered. Their only concern is hate and sometimes gain. Because there is sometimes money involved in making “movements” that strangely don’t move anywhere at all.
I’ve seen a girl online who sang her heart out and did not mind at all of the hateful comments she received everyday. She just continued to sing as if no one was even saying anything at all! It was beautiful if somewhat sad to see all the comments. But there is hurt on both sides - there really is.
Where I live there has been a lot of high-profile teen suicides because of bullying featured on TV news. It is hard to believe the statistics that are being quoted around the issue. It is the second leading cause of death in young people after accidents. It is an awful fact about the perils modern internet savvy young people face on a daily basis.
I guess that is why anti-bullying campaigns are pretty much everywhere you go. The public health authorities know how wide spread and significant a problem it is. There was time when bullying seldom happened outside the school premises. Nowadays with the advent of social media, bullying for some young people is inescapable. Parents/teachers could help if they limited the time their children spent on social media apps. Simple things like putting safe searches on their computers, laptops, cell phones. Parental responsibility and empowering young people to make informed decisions about how to conduct themselves on social media are part of the solution to mitigating bulling. The rest is down to Schools and anti-bullying incentives.
I think political correctness has definitely gone too far. Everyone is offended all the time… But bullying is different. Bullying is abuse of one person by another or others.
Children who are bullies are often victims of abuse themselves, so teaching them appropriate coping skills that don’t involve victimizing others is a good thing. And those who are bullied don’t just “toughen up”, they lose part of themselves. Sometimes the sweetest, gentlest part that is beautiful and should never be seen as weakness.
“Toughening-up” is highly overrated, especially in American society.
It’s important to raise confident adults, but bullying is not a tool toward that goal. It’s the opposite.
While most things are overdone these days, exaggerated by a generation of coddled millenials, the issue of abuse is still pretty clear. It’s never ok.
That’s basically what my mom would always say to my brother when he would make fun/hit me or insult me while yelling.
“Everyone’s different.” But did that really help? It never did.
I know there is still some friction between me and him and he hates how I am sometimes because it is “embarrassing”.
Despite that I don’t hate him. I know that a big part of the issue is how we grew up.
When I got him to break down one time (because I wouldn’t give in to his insults) he admitted something that revealed quite a lot when he said, “I just don’t know what I’m good at.”.
So that would explain a lot but also the reason he “hates” me is because it was taught to us that guys aren’t supposed to be sensitive.
He doesn’t know what I was crying about the other day and I couldn’t really explain it to him. It’s just what is becoming of so much of society and what has become of him because of it. Maybe a lot more complex reason than that actually.
I work with abused and neglected teens. Some of them model behavior they’ve seen/experienced and also they look to have some power in a world where they’re powerless. No one taught them coping skills and hardly anyone in their world is kind.
We do try to teach the gentler side of life lessons to our kids and sometimes we make a difference.
No, not everyone already knows to be kind and respectful because there’s more than one reality that humans experience growing up.
Telling kids, “give him a break, he has a difficult home life”, doesn’t change anything.
Children don’t know how to cope with feelings because they are children,
Experiences like these are how they learn.
No one can deny there is a definite problem like @Montezuma and @thedeepestdream said, but after school problems are not going to work.
Look what D.A.R.E. did, I had an entire childhood full of that and I’m stoned as we speak.
When I was in school this cool jock type guy kept messing with this mildly retarded kid everyday at lunch. It was brutal. No matter how many times we told this jock not to be a jackass, he couldn’t help it. It went on all semester. Until one day the kid with arrested development just lost it, punched him with incredible strength right in the teeth. Jerkface had to his jaw wired shut for weeks. Lost out on some football games, then had to have braces for another year. We were graduated before he started looking normal again.
I would have to disagree. Bullying can leave mental scars that shape your personality and your future. It can affect your whole life in a negative way. I definitely see your point and it it can be true but try telling this to the parents who find their 12 year old kid hanging dead in the closet with a belt around his/her neck because of relentless sadistic bullying by their peers.
There’s better ways than bullying to prepare a kid for life out in the world. A lot of the kids who are bullied already have serious personal problems before they get bullied or they feel different. Getting bullied doesn’t help their problems.
These kids who commit suicide because they have been bullied are really tragic. That kind of severe bullying needs to be stopped, but maybe a few playful jabs among friends is okay. I would have been suspicious of that jar soliciting donations.
This what caused the intense anger problems i still have today. As mentioned before, i have a facial deformity. I went through intense verbal and physicsal bullying through out school.
It was so bad i was permenately suspended by 10th grade. One kid after another or sometimes in groups. I was always in the office, but who was sitting next to me always changed. Therfore, it was concluded it must be me that was the problem, not the bullying.
So yes. The bullying kept me from school. Even telling teachers did no good. I tried that once. i was told if would stop paying attention to it, then it would go away. ( false. it encourages it) Nothing was done to stop it. They just waited till it blew up.
It only took wice to learn to try not for the teeth. Take my word for it. When you punch their teeth the lip tissue moves side and cuts your knuckles deep on their teeth. You will need stitches after. I also have broken the metacarpral bones on impact and several fingrr bones. my nose is crooked as it was nevr treated after a hit. Subluxated right shoulder and torn rotator cuff from breaking a hold this girl had on me.
People (kids) can seriously injure yhemselves and others in fights.
