W
hen I hear the terrible stories of children being bullied and how it has affected them right into adulthood, my first reaction was I’m glad that didn’t happen to my children.
But wait, now that I think of it, that’s not true. They were bullied, it was just called teasing and principals and teachers responded to my concerns with ‘kids will be kids and they don’t mean any harm.’
I beg to differ. Their single motivating thought must have been to make my child feel terrible about themselves and whatever flaw these bullies were highlighting at the time.
I remember walking into my son’s Grade 5 classroom and finding him cowering in the corner with three or four boys taunting him for failing his swimming test that day.
No harm, no foul? I lost it. I ranted to the principal, the teacher and the parents of those boys. Nothing was done. It was cruel and heartless and by no means harmless. They knew exactly what affect it was having on my son.
There were also days when my youngest son questioned his passion for dancing because of all the name-calling, insults and criticism that was leveled at him in high school.
Schools are more than ever war zones where students can be assaulted in so many ways. Cyber bullying is possibly the most frightening of all.
School yard bullying means the bully(s) take their victim on face to face where the possibility of someone stepping in to help is more likely.
But with almost every kid in the school carrying a cell phone, cyber bullying is faster, more pervasive and can be anonymously more vicious, with little or no recourse for authorities or parents.
With more and more school staff, parents and teachers taking bullying much more seriously, I see a glimmer of hope for the bullying victim.
I was privileged to attend a very special assembly at Dragon Lake elementary school were every student took the anti-bullying pledge (created by the students) and wore the pink shirts (symbol of anti-bullying across B.C. and the western provinces.)
Their message was no bullying would be tolerated at their school.
Maybe if such a pledge had been around in my son’s school he could have proudly achieved his swimming success in his own time, with the support of his classmates.
Every experience teaches us something and I suppose the bullying my sons endured was turned to a positive. They don’t stand by when someone needs help and they certainly don’t turn away or stand idly by when someone is being bullied.
My fervent hope is that students will embrace the upside to the anti-bullying message.
Everyone has value, our differences are our combined strength and everyone needs positive support, one time or another.
Annie Gallant is a reporter with the Quesnel Cariboo Observer.