I have a few other post to finish but I saw this last night and had to share. Dealing with bullying was something I knew was coming, I thought I would have a few years. Unfortunately life never goes as planned and this issue was introduced to our house a few years ago. While we thought we had dealt with it and had it under wraps as you can see from the lesson below it never really goes away. We are lucky that K has some amazing friends and a great teacher. As well as parents that she can come to at any time. When I saw this it reminded me how deep some wounds lay. This is a great lesson for kids to see exactly how others are affected by their actions. Actually it's not just for kids, many adults can learn from this as well, although the capacity to learn from mistakes is a task that kids master a lot easier than their older counterparts. Thanks to my childhood friend Staci who posted this on Facebook last night. I am bringing it to K's class on Monday.
A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform:
She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.
Pass it on or better yet, if you're a parent or a teacher, do it with your child/children.
For someone who was bullied as a kid this really resonated with me. I know what I'll be doing with Rylee tomorrow. Thanks, M!
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