LET’S TALK ABOUT
BULLYING:
Not in the same way everyone else does.
Kelly Karius.
L
et’s talk about bullying. Not in the same way everyone else does though.
In the past we’ve acknowledged bullying as a problem with children. Kids are mean. Kids are bad. Boys will be boys and there will always be mean girls. We’ve acknowledged bullying as a problem with schools. We have speakers in to talk with them and share stories. Sometimes we leave students with more trauma than they walked in with…and we don’t follow up properly. We’ve acknowledged bullying as a problem with families. Families with problems, parents 42 // Community Now!
who aren’t involved enough, parents who are using poor conflict management skills and passing them on to their children. What we haven’t done is acknowledged that bullying is a problem with behavior. Not one person’s behavior - as has happened so often in the past - let’s change the “bully”! Let’s train some empathy into this person! Let’s confront their family and make them do better!! We haven’t acknowledged that bullying is a problem that includes everyone’s behavior yes, of course the person using bully actions, and yes, of course their family. But there is more.
