Read More: 14 Ways to Help Your Child Defend Herself Against Bullying. Hint: Be Prepared Before It Happens
The video actually goes on 10 minutes, and I can only assume it gets worse. I couldn't stomach watching any longer. And the first thing that went through my mind was: what is wrong with these kids' parents? Where did these kids learn to act this way? It is our duty, as parents, to make sure our children learn to treat other people with respect. Can we always know what our children are doing? No. Will they sometimes treat people poorly? Most likely. They are, after all, human.
Read More: A Documentary About Children Being Bullied - That Your Children Can't Watch
But lately, there seems to be much concern about the breakdown of civil discourse. You know where civil discourse broke down? In our homes. Who will teach our children that it's not OK to bully a grown woman until she cries? Who will teach our children that it's not OK to threaten to egg someone's house? Who will teach our children that they must treat people with respect, if we do not? How can we bemoan the loss of civility in modern society when we're not teaching our children how to be civil?
Read More: Children Age Faster When Exposed to Violence
The children in this case should be ashamed of themselves. Their parents should be even more ashamed. There's a difference between supporting our children and blindly supporting our children. We do them no favors when we take their side when they do something wrong. That's not to say we shouldn't support them in those situations. It means that we need to help them understand in those situations why what they did was wrong. It means that we love them. Rolling our eyes and saying, "Kids will be kids." Or throwing up our hands and saying, "She's such a handful" doesn't absolve us from the responsibility of guiding them to do right. If we don't do it, then we might find ourselves one day being taunted relentlessly by someone else's children, tears silently running down our cheeks.
NOTE: The Indiegogo fundraiser closes at midnight on July 20th. All money will go to Karen, who might find that she can retire from the school district, where she's worked for more than 20 years. Her current salary is a little more than $15,000.
Top Articles on Bullying
14 Ways to Help Your Child Defend Herself Against Bullying. Hint: Be Prepared Before It Happens
A Documentary About Children Being Bullied - That Your Children Can't Watch
Children Age Faster When Exposed to Violence
