The Anti-Bullying Movement

Having just sat down with a couple students about the issue of bullying in schools, I wondered how many of us really remember what being in High School was like. It can be tough, everyone trying to fit in and fly under the "bully radar" and most importantly achieve the ultimate "cool status."

When I first met these two students, they honestly took me by surprise. When kids raise issues of being bullied in school, you imagine a skinny little boy getting called names-maybe slammed up against a locker (Napoleon Dynamite style). Over the past few years the term bully has become less male-oriented and has taken more of a Mean Girls image.

Both girls I met with were attractive young women, well spoken, and seemed to have a very un-High School like sense of themselves. They contacted KTAB wanting to take a more proactive approach vs. getting angry or even. There's clearly a reason bullying has gotten national attention recently. Bullies in school are not a new phenomenon, however the increase in teen depression and suicide is alarming. It's incredibly sad that insecurities, jealousy, or hate could lead a teen to consider suicide.




There used to be a notion that "boys will be boys" and now it's "you know how girls can get"...there IS a level of this all being growing pains, however the extreme level bullying has reached is now being called to attention. Kudos to all the teens who are deciding to make a social change when it comes to bullying, your actions and causes are helping bring that change about.

I will add this, if I only knew how different life was going to be after High School, after College...if I only realized that most of what seems huge at the moment really doesn't matter in the long run, I would have had a lot more time to relax and have fun. Teen years are really too special to spend worrying about what people say about you, or think about you, or maybe even do to you.

Teens-know this: There will always be people who say hurtful things. Some days that person could even be you. The best thing anyone can do is set the example-open the door for the handicapped kid, for any kid. Smile at a stranger in the hall, even if you just failed a math test and don't know their name. Change does start small, why not start today?