Category Archives: Bullying

Bullying in the Aloha State

Accountability, Bullying, Forgiveness, Parenting, Principals, Schools, Teachers • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Lanai from hotel roomWhen my children were younger we read a story book about the Aloha Bear which taught that aloha means hello, goodbye, and love. People also use it to mean peace, compassion, and mercy. Yet, even in Hawaii, we have a bullying problem that isn’t going away. Those who have been reading my blog know this affected my family directly a few years ago.

Hawaii is one of the few states without legislation specifically aimed at bullying, yet the problem is no longer being ignored. The harassment law was amended last year to allow for prosecution of technology related bullying. State leaders are working on ways to curb the bullying. The news media has also been giving it more attention this year. See the following for more information: Cyber bullying affects 1 in 2 Hawaii teens – Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL Home. 

It is time to educate the parents as to their responsibility. For more information about this see my accountability post: Accountability for Protecting Our Children | dswalkerauthor.

A parent’s primary job is to teach their child right from wrong and to protect them from harm. Protect your child no matter what anyone at the school or anywhere else tells you. Protect them by legal means please! Work with me to change the system.

Unfortunately, you will probably also have to help your child learn to forgive so they can completely heal. Becoming the bully is not an option. Becoming an advocate is. It is truly time to change the school climate to one of tolerance and acceptance of differences. I hope some of you will be brave enough to publicly agree with me by commenting here.

Addendum: Hawaii’s anti-bullying law became effective in 2011. However, it excludes over 150 private schools. You can find more posts about bullying by clicking on more supportive schools from the menu or entering bullying in the search area.

Did You See Santa Bully Rudolph? 2

Asperger's Syndrome, Bullying, Forgiveness • Tags: , , , , ,

Rudolph

Rudolph has always been one of my favorite Christmas shows, but we were too busy to watch it when it was on a week ago, so my family and I watched last night.  Thanks to my fellow bloggers, I watched it with a fresh set of eyes.

You see Laura over at The House That Asperger Built had a post about it last week which involved much blogger discussion.  It started me thinking about a lot of things that really hadn’t occurred to me before.  Now obviously everyone knows Rudolph and his buddies were not treated very well.  That I got.  What I didn’t get was how the whole show was  about being cruel to those who are different.  When you look at it that way it makes you think.

My thoughts are that at the time Rudolph was made, it probably was meant to teach tolerance, but given today’s climate, it really does seem cruel.  I can certainly see why some of my fellow bloggers would not like it, so I have some questions for you.

Do you think Rudolph should have let Santa off so easy?  Remember I’m all about forgiveness, but even I can understand why many in the blogging community would think he shouldn’t have.  Still, I think Rudolph did the right thing.  It would have been nice if Santa had really changed, but that isn’t really clear in the story.  For those watching Charlie Brown tonight, what about Lucy?  Is she a “mean girl?”  Let me know if you think of others?

The U. S. Department of Education Gets It.

Bullying • Tags:

There are several articles on bullying in the news today.  The one that really caught my eye and made me shout hooray is the one about the Department of Education .

They finally get what I’ve been saying all along.  We have laws already that if enforced would protect most of the people who are victims of bullying.  I sent an e-mail to Lee Hirsch last month after seeing ABC’s  “Bullied to Death,” asking him why there was no mention of prosecution in the case where the girl was assaulted in front of her home, or in the case of the You Tube video created by little girls telling ways to kill another little girl.  I also pointed out that the seventeen year old in Georgia who committed suicide after repeated bullying should have been protected under the ADA.

Finally, the U. S. Department of Education gets that at least some incidents of bullying should still fall under current laws, as according to the link below they are “reminding schools that some incidents could violate more than a local code of conduct.”  They are reported to have sent a letter from the Office of Civil Rights indicating specific cases would rise to the level of discriminatory harassment.  They noted protections against discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, sex, age, disability in programs or activities that receive federal financial aid.

They also note that if a school limits its response to specific application of its anti-bullying disciplinary policy, the school may fail to properly address discriminatory harassment.  I say it is about time that someone realized this.  Now if we could just educate parents, maybe they’ll actually teach their children that their actions can have dire consequences.  Lets hope some of them actually are reading the latest news.

As I said before, involving the law would be my last resort if either of my children are ever bullied again.  I really want children to avoid prosecution, but until parents actually get back to teaching tolerance and kindness, I’m afraid it may be the only way to get through to some of our youth.  Parents please educate your children.  I don’t want a child to die or to go to jail.  Those of us trying to make changes just want you to get it, so we can all forgive and move on with our lives.

The Right Way to Prevent Bullying

Bullying, Schools • Tags: , , ,
Purchased Clipart Collection Version 1.2 (2.2) Copyright ©Macmanus. All rights reserved.

Purchased Clipart Collection Version 1.2 (2.2) Copyright ©Macmanus. All rights reserved.

Today’s title is linked to a story from Valhalla, New York:http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7772087

It is about triplets who started a program to educate younger kids in how to prevent bullying. I strongly advise you to watch this. All schools need to encourage more programs like this one. I hope when colleges look at community service, they give these seniors bonus points because they are examples of upstanders.

I love school systems that encourage older children to look out for younger ones. The seniors told the middle school children things that were important, like that threatening and harassing text messages should be reported to their parents and to the police. They also taught them that bystanders could and should speak up, as they make a difference. This is the type of message that needs to be given more often. Schools programs that teach children how to be good citizens and what laws can be used to protect themselves are so needed today. I hope you will help to pass this message on to others.