Playgrounds are for Playing

Think bullying is just for the school yard? You thought wrong.

I am sure everyone can remember a time in their life that they were bullied as a child. A fellow classmate called you names, took your property, physically hurt you? That child may have gotten a time out or discipline at home, but how can you really blame him?!

I look around every day and all I see is bullying. I see it among children, among adults, in the workplace, in the tabloids... I see it everywhere! It makes me wonder how we can expect our children to act respectfully, when all they see around them is bullying?

I know my little blog with (if I'm lucky) 100 readers wont make a huge difference, but if I can make one person think twice, I will be satisfied.

We are all guilty. We have all been the bully at one time of another! People sometimes don't realize that what they are doing is bullying! I'm guilty of this as well. And it is not until somewhat recently that I realized how easy ti can be to bully someone! It seems as in our society, it has become so intergrated, we don't even notice bullying anymore.

Although I had a fairly easy childhood as far as bullying went (teenage years and adulthood were not so easy at times), a friend of mine on the other hand, did not. He would come home from school black and blue. He would get called names, picked on and beat. I'm sure more than half of you reading this had that same experience in one way or another. Can he put the blame on those other kids? Or is everyone in society to blame? And, although he was the one who was being bullied as a child, I have seen him be the bully as an adult. So how is it that after being called names and feeling first hand how it feels, would someone do the same to another person?

It makes me crazy when people say that bullying is "just part of being a kid". I want to scream! People think bullying is just a little fight in the play ground... It's so much bigger than that. Bullying of all kinds, whether it be hurtful actions, mistreating or controlling another person, verbal or non-verbal, leads to decreasing a person's self worth. What does someone have if they don't have their self worth?

So many sad things are happening to children and adults alike as a result of bullying! It breaks my heart and I wish there was something I could do about it! The only thing I can do is watch what I say, watch how I treat people, be aware and treat all others with respect. Sure, there will always be people I just don't get along with, or people who don't like me, but is that a good excuse to be disrespectful? You have no idea what someone is going through and why they are the way that they are.

When I was young, there was a guy who bullied the other kids in the playground and I remember his mother laughing it off. She thought it was funny. How would the tables have turned had that been her child getting kicked in the playground? Would that have been funny too?? How can this child know that his behavior is destructive when his mother is laughing about it? Where do you think he learned to bully?

My mom always used to tell us: "If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all." I used to just brush it off and make jokes! But she was so right. What good will come of it? If we all respected each other, respected who each person was and embraced what it is that makes each person unique, this wouldn't be a problem anymore... But we as adults need to set that example for our children. We as a society needs to set that example.

Be kind to one another.

Thanks for reading,

Danielle