What a Crumpled Piece of Paper Can Teach Your Kids About Bullying

Crumpled and Stomped
Crumpled and Stomped

If you're on Pinterest or even on Facebook, chances are you've seen the posting about the teacher who taught her students a lesson about bullying by crumpling, stomping upon, and then trying to straighten out a piece of paper. I have to admit, the first time I read it … I teared up.

My mom has told me about bullying that she experienced in 5th grade that still haunts her to this day. She told me that it never leaves you, you may grow up, you may stop being bullied - but the scars of bullying stay with you long after.

This sheet of crumpled, torn and weakened paper … it tore at my heart … it dug deep into my subconscious and refused to let go. The lesson is as follows:

A Lesson on Bullying
A Lesson on Bullying



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Here's the thing:

Bullying doesn't only happen on the playground - it happens online, on Facebook, on Twitter, in the classroom, in the lunchroom, in the boardroom … it can happen anywhere at any age.

I never experienced bullying as a child - I had my first experience with it as an adult, and it scarred me and altered me, some for the better, but some …. well, that's neither here nor there…

My mom, more than 40 years later (sorry, mom) is still haunted by the bullying she received as a child…

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I have seen kids bully other kids and sometimes those kids were the absolute last ones I would ever have expected to be the bully, they were the child I would have thought would have been the protector.

I have two young children, one who's just starting out his school career and one who's 4 years into it.

This posting haunts me, because children are so fragile and I want to protect mine and yours any way that I can.

If you don't get why this scares me, moves me, haunts me so much; I urge you - go grab a piece of paper and write your child's name on it.

Crumple it into a ball.

Jump on it.

Stomp on it.

Throw it across the room.

Now, try to flatten it, smooth it and make it look like it did before.

Once you realize that you can't…

Look again at your child's name written in the center of that paper and see that as their spirit.

Tell me that doesn't haunt you.

Related: 7 habits of highly effective kids

How could you not want to do everything you can to prevent bullying, to help those who've been the victim of bullying.

Were you bullied? Were you a bully? Do you have any experience with anti-bullying programs for schools and families?

Please, please please share your stories, your resources. You never know whose life you may change.

- Rachel Matthews

For 10 ways to bully-proof your kids, visit Babble!

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Rachel Matthews is a self-described, "deep-fried Southern belle, married to a cowboy boot wearin', Harley ridin' Texan Prince Charming." She is the always proud and frequently exhausted mom to two eighth-generation Texans.

Babble Voices | Babble.com
Babble Voices | Babble.com

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