If you’re on Facebook I’m sure you’ve seen many of your friends share the video made by Ellen Degeneres regarding the rise in teenage bullying and suicides. I agreed with her message and clicked the “Share” button with no hesitation. Looking through my newsfeed, many of my friends did as well.
But now what?? As much as I’d like to think it will, sharing a video on Facebook isn’t going to halt this vicious cycle. What tangible actions do we take to keep more precious kids protected? To keep more kids from having so little self-respect that they have to break down others to make themselves feel good about themselves? What resources are out there to help these kids?
It would be easy for me to shrug and say “My daughter’s 2. I don’t have to worry about this yet.” But I am worried. If nothing changes, what will the schoolyard be like in 10-12 years? Will bullies find another vessel to spew their hate? I don’t want to sit by and find out then.
The easy answer is everyone parent their kids. Teach them to respect others. Make them feel supported and that they can come to you if they are being bullied. But that message must be falling on deaf ears if children are still dying. Somebody is not holding up their end of the bargain and I’m not waitng for my kid to be picked on to the point they see no point in living to do something about it.
So again I ask…now that we’ve “shared” Ellen’s video, what are we going to do now?
