Bullies are Mentally Disturbed!

So, I am PISSED OFF today.  I am fed up with hearing about children who have taken theirs lives because of some bully.  When are we going to start treating bullies like the criminal they are?  When are we going to start a Bully Registry, like they have for sex offenders?  When are these children and adults going to start serving time for their mentally disturbing behavior?  There is no denying that they have some sort of mental disorder.

If you can bully someone and think it is ok, you definitely have a mental disorder and need to be treated.  Hurting people with your words and/or actions is abuse no matter how you look at it.  That makes a bully no different than a criminal!  If a person is bullied to the point of killing themselves the bully ultimately becomes a murderer, it could be said that the bully did in fact commit involuntary manslaughter.   What makes this worse is the parents that aren't do anything/or enough to stop their children from behaving this way.

I tell my kids that being mean to others is not acceptable.  I tell them if they can't say anything nice to someone not to say anything at all.  You do not have to like everyone but don't be mean to someone just because you don't like them.  If you don't like someone you just stay away from them, there is no reason to make it know to the world/your class that you don't like them.  I also make sure my children know that they are fine the way they are and tell them to try not to acknowledge those who are mean to them.  I tell them if things are bothering them to talk about it, if a bully is getting out of control or it is getting hard to not acknowledge them then report that person to an adult.

It doesn't hurt for children to stand up for children who are being bullied either.  You can stand up to a bully without actually acknowledging the bully.  You can go get an adult if you see a situation in which someone is bothering someone else.  You can go up to the person being bullied and start talking to them and gradually removing them from the situation.  Just ask the person are you ok, do you need someone to talk to? Do you want to hang out?  Try making that person feel good, let them know that someone does care about them.

Too often nothing is done for the person who is experiencing the bullying.  Doesn't take much to step in and help.  Of course if it is online it could be a little harder to step in unless of course you are friends with the person online.  What brought this up today was a segment on the Today Show.  It is so sad every time I hear about a child taking his/her life because of a bully.  This needs to stop!

Live to Love,
Heather