Strollerderby : bullying

They Say: Bullying Could Make Kids Psychotic

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:00:00 GMT

A depressing but important study by British researchers has found that kids who are bullied as preteens are twice as likely to exhibit symptoms of psychosis by the time they reach adolescence.

Evaluating 6,400 children annually from ages 7 to 13, researchers found that a whopping 46 percent of preteens are bullied, and that these kids are twice as likely to have delusions, hallucinations, or thought disorders by the time they reach adolescence. The more severe the bullying, the greater the chance of psychosis, regardless of the children's family situations, IQs, and existing mental health problems.

The reasons for the correlation are inconclusive, but researchers believe that the stress of bullying could either trigger existing predilections for schizophrenia or could permanently change the way the brain responds to stress.

These findings make sense considering the increased incidence of mental health problems among people who were abused as kids. Hopefully, this study will drive home the point that chronic bullying is a serious form of abuse, and needs to be addressed by schools as such.

Photo: Virginia Youth Violence Project

Yet Another "Kid-Safe" Version of Facebook Launched

Kate Tuttle — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:32:00 GMT

Now entering the growing market of social networking sites aimed at making parents feel like their kids are safe, safe, safe: Kidswirl. Clearly modeled on Facebook, Kidswirl won't fool your older child but might help you keep your younger kids (say, under 11) from figuring out about the real thing. It's hard to figure out, though, what the real differences are. The interface is a complete lift from Facebook -- unless they have prior legal permission, I'd bet it's likely they'll be sued soon. But the site's PR wants to assure you that it's, like, a zillion times less potentially offensive and dangerous:

The number one priority of the site is KID SAFETY! As a result, we have blocked all bad language, inappropriate and suggestive phrases, and any other word usage that is requested by the parents and users.

So, what if some parents request that word usage like "trans-kid" or "gay teen" is blocked? How "safe" is the space then? Is profanity itself dangerous to kids, and if so, how? I'm pretty sure bullying and harrassment (the main sources of danger to kids online as well as offline) don't require profanity to work.

And what about the other danger so frequently cited in pleas for more kid-safe online spaces -- that of creepy adults who would want to interact with kids online? As much as the research I've read indicates this is a tiny, tiny problem, I actually can't tell whether Kidswirl provides real safety from it -- I just signed up and got an account and all of a sudden my newsfeed features updates from dozens of real live kids who I don't know! And I can see their entire profiles! As a mother who actually doesn't find the online world any more dangerous than the offline one, even I find this a bit troubling.

Bottom line: if you think protecting your kids from "bad words" is among your highest parental duties, Kidswirl is for you. Otherwise, maybe you should do what the experts suggest: talk to your kids about how to manage their online relationships, make sure you understand what they're doing and set appropriate limits, and more than anything, listen to them. It's kids themselves, not grownup marketing types, who can really educate parents about what's going on in their worlds, virtual and real.

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When Should the School Call the Parents?

JeanneSager — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:02:00 GMT

Life in a small town is strange sometimes. I didn't hear about the punching incident at my daughter's pre-school from her or even from the teacher.

I heard about it in town, via the long grapevine of small town life. I also heard it was dealt with - appropriately - by the teacher.

It didn't bother me in the least that I hadn't known before - after all, my daughter wasn't involved. But when I mentioned it to another parent, her reponse shocked me. "You didn't get a letter? The teacher didn't say anything?"

Of course she didn't say anything. One little boy punched another little boy, and the teacher stepped in. She talked to the parents of the kids involved. The parents dealt with it. My daughter wasn't involved, and therefore I wasn't involved. I probably would have been more concerned if the teacher was telling the private business of two other children and two other sets of parents - to me.

My friend wasn't giving up. "But there's a bully in your daughter's class. Don't you want to know to protect her? Shouldn't you know what happens in that classroom during the day?"

I can see her point, but when I drop my daughter off in the morning, I put her in the care of her teacher and the teacher's assistant for three hours. I have to trust that those two adults are protecting my daughter, and that they're ensuring what happens in that classroom is safe and appropriate. If it isn't, I'd expect them to tell me.

What do you think? Should parents be notified of every "bad" thing to happen in a classroom? Or should notification be child specific?

They Say: Smoking While Pregnant Makes Kids Aggressive

Brett Singer — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT

I thought it was generally acknowledged that it was a bad idea for women to smoke while pregnant. A new study provides another reason: the kids could end up aggressive. The likelihood of aggressive behavior increases if the family makes less than $40,000 per year. This is according to a study conducted by Canadian doctors that was published in the academic journal Development and Psychopathology.

To clarify, "aggressive behavior" – or "behaviour", as they call it, since some people have to spell things differently – is that which the mothers characterized "as quick to hit, bite, kick, fight and bully others." (I guess spitting is OK. Throwing things, perhaps?) The children studied were between 18 months and three and a half years of age.

"Mothers-to-be whose lives have been marked by anti-social behaviour have a 67 percent chance to have a physically aggressive child if they smoke 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, compared with 16 percent for those who are non-smokers or who smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day. Smoking also seems to be an aggravating factor, although less pronounced, in mothers whose anti-social behaviour is negligible or zero."

Other factors contributing to aggressiveness in preschool kids, sayeth the study: "mothers who are younger than 21, who smoke and who coerce their children to behave." Also, "children from families who earned less than $40,000 per year were at an increased risk for aggressive behaviour." Which I guess means that families earning less than $40,000 are more likely to have aggressive children whether mom puffs or not. But the aggressiveness INCREASED in those families if mom smoked, and DECREASED if she didn't.

Are you bored yet?

Here's my issue with studies like this. We know smoking while pregnant is a bad idea. (Like playing piano in a marching band, as they say on The Animaniacs.) So what exactly is the point of this study? What did we find out, that families with less money and a mother with a nicotine addiction are more likely to have children who exhibit "aggressive behaviour", as defined by a certain specific "behaviours"? So what? How about a study that looks at methods that might help those kids deal with their aggression?

Reading this study makes me feel very aggressive. I need to go bite something. But since my mother doesn't smoke, I'll just bite into a sandwich.

Source: Science Daily

Image: Church Times

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Toddler Injured in Xmas Tree Fight Between Mom and Grandma

Political Bullying in Elementary Schools

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:34:00 GMT

What would you do if you found out that a little girl was telling your child, “His name is Obama bin Laden” and, “It’s not Hilary—it’s Hitlery”? A writer on the blog Daily Kos, who is one of few Democrats in a Texan town, was faced with this dilemma when her eight-year-old daughter Abigail reported that one of her classmates was repeatedly making these comments. This was around the time that Abigail’s class was voting for president in the Scholastic presidential election.

Darcy writes, “I doubt if the little girl even knows who Osama bin Laden or Hitler are, but my kid does. She is upset about the comments, and I am stunned.”

Darcy’s husband wanted Abigail to learn to deal with the taunts herself, but Darcy ultimately decided to speak with Abigail’s teacher. The teacher, according to Darcy, “decided to use the incident as a teaching moment to address mudslinging.” (For what it’s worth, the mudslinging didn’t seem to help McCain in this third grade classroom: Obama won 17-5.)

I think Darcy did the right thing. No matter what your political affiliation is, that kind of hateful speech has no place in schools. By making mudslinging into a classroom dialogue, the teacher had a chance to teach the bullying girl and other students just what it means to call someone Hitler or bin Laden.

Do you think that hateful comments about political figures count as bullying? Was the mother right to go to the teacher with her concerns?

The Kids Have Voted!

Chicago LGBT High School Update

Shannon LC Cate — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:00:00 GMT

The Chicago School Board is set to vote October 22 on the opening of 17 new schools, including the "School for Social Justice Pride Campus, according to the Tribune. The school has received the support of most public school system leaders in Chicago, who argue that research shows that lgbt students face a difficult time in high school, dropping out at a higher than average rate and missing school for fear of violence.

The debate still rages on the sidelines that if such a school is opened, it will ghettoize lgbt students, lightening the burden on all schools to make themselves safe for all students.

I can't help but still feel that such a school--with no more than 600 students drawn by lottery--would, rather than ghettoizing queer kids, give them a secure setting in which to learn the history of sexual minorities, find out about the kind of work being done to further queer liberation in our culture and from which to take strong youth leadership roles in the community. So many queer youth grow up in a vaccuum, not knowing the history of struggle for justice for "their" people and hearing themselves referred to only in perjorative ways.

A district that prioritizes the needs of these students so much as to open a campus to serve them specifically is making a statement about the value of these kids and their potential for unique contributions to society. I do hope that having the school in the district will make for more inclusive curricula in all the schools. With only 600 slots available at the Pride campus, plenty of queer kids will still find themselves mainstreamed into general student populations. And it's not only lgbt kids who need to learn about lgbt issues, it's the kids who toss "that's so gay" around without thinking.

Watch this space for an update after the vote in a couple of weeks.

Also on this topic:

LGBT "Magnet" Schools: Help or Hurt?

October: It's Not Just for Halloween Anymore--Teacher Week

Shannon LC Cate — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:00:00 GMT

After a miserable winter last year, summer just seemed too short here in the Midwest. To combat the cold dreariness of the past few days, I decided to go holiday-hunting. I found a few great reasons to celebrate. First up: National Classroom Teacher Week! (I teach online, so I guess this is not my week.)

I'm celebrating by remembering Mrs. Lynn of my fifth grade year. Mrs. Lynn was warm, funny and didn't play favorites. We were all her pets. In fact, the whole school was her pet. Mrs. Lynn taught English too, and if you memorized her list of prepositions--which we chanted daily right after the class announcements, Hail Marys and Our Fathers (Catholic school!)--she'd give you a tootsie roll for reciting them. You could come back in the sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, high school, college. You could bring your first-born for a visit to Mrs. Lynn's classroom. As long as you could still list the prepositions, you got a tootsie roll. As a result, folks were constantly visiting our classroom and catching up with Mrs. Lynn. It made her seem like a celebrity and those of us in her class felt a special glow of privilege to be able to say we belonged to her.

It was also Mrs. Lynn who taught me that "only turkeys are done, people, unless they're being roasted are FINISHED" and it's one of my pet grammar peeves to this day.

Mrs. Lynn addressed a bad case of bullying from my soccer team in my fifth grade year as well. She might have looked the other way as most teachers did in these situations, but as soon as she found out about it, she became my champion. Her moral authority alone made the other girls back off for the remainder of that year.

So, tell us about a special teacher in your life: yours, your kids', a friend, neighbor or relative who teaches, a community hero. Let's celebrate!

Image: earthinpictures.com

Posts by this Writer on Education:

Extending the Privilege of Preschool

Let There Be Science in Science Class

LGBT Magnet Schools: Hurt or Help?

LGBT "Magnet" Schools: Help or Hurt?

LilySea — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:44:00 GMT

The HRC reports that “A group of over 200 people met last week to discuss a proposal to open the city’s first high school for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. The Social Justice High School Pride Campus would focus on core college-preparatory curriculum but cater to LGBT youth in the Chicago public school district. Critics fear that the school would allow district administrators to neglect the responsibility to make all schools safe for LGBT students."

I admit, I didn't think of the catch when I saw a similar headline on a local LGBT paper in a box on the corner. Regardless, I still think such a school, modeled on the Harvey Milk High School in New York, is a great idea. I once taught in an urban high school where, in spite of the presence of a popular out and proud gay vice principal, kids still threw around the usual “that's so gay/he's a fag/what a dyke” insults as freely as any other place I'd taught. Also in spite of the vice principal, every queer teacher in the school except me was deeply closeted. I was chastised more than once for being “too open” about my “lifestyle” by a supervisor with a poster-sized black-and-white photo of his shirtless self and his tank-top-clad wife hanging over his classroom where most teachers have a world map or a “say no to drugs” poster.

While I do believe every school should be safe for every student, properly organized and run, a magnet-type program for young queers and their allies could set a friendly tone for an entire school district while nurturing the next generation of leaders in queer freedom movements.

That Name Is So Gay!

Miriam Axel-Lute — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:31:00 GMT

Choosing a baby name that will not get your child taunted in later life is clearly higher on some parents' priorities than on others'. But certainly when you expect your kids might run into some hard times on the playground for other reasons—such as, for example, their parents are gay—it might jump up a notch or two on the list and start to compete with things like easy to spell and pronounce.

Not, honestly, that I thought about it in those terms when we were picking our daughter's name particularly, but perhaps I should have. Way Out Parent's guide to gay baby naming points out, for example, that naming a girl Billie Jean, shortens to BJ, a fact which will escape no teen boy. Despite what I think of as my innuendo-alert mind, I would not have thought of that one. Guess I'm not a teen boy. Phew.

I'm not sure what I think of all of Way Out parent's advice. I definitely question whether sons of lesbians have a need to be blessed with definitively masculine names more than sons of gay men. (We're talking taunt reducing here, not challenging stereotypes.) And suggesting such a short list of icons to name daughters after seems like, if heeded, would lead to those names starting to (1) be way overused and (2) scream "My parents are gay!"

But perhaps I take this humorous post too seriously. In fact, I almost certainly do. That's what happens when humor hits close to home. But really, any parents who have come to stalemate over their naming choices could use a dose of humor and a break from books full of 15 million inadvisable and outdated names. And maybe a bunch more Ellens and Marlenes in the world wouldn't be such a bad thing.

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Brand Names Play Increasing Role in Bullying

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:25:00 GMT

A poll by the British Association of Teachers and Lecturers found that the products kids want to own are largely determined by a desire to be accepted by their peers. And this is an understandable, given that almost half of teachers report that kids who can’t afford the “right” clothes are ostracized or bullied.

While bullying is unfortunately as old as school, brand bullying appears to be on the rise. What, you ask, could possibly have led to this increase? Well, here’s a possibility: more than 70 percent of teachers say that advertising affects young people more today than it did 10 years ago, and almost all teachers believe that ads directly target youth.

Photo: Shoe Market

Counseling Over Transgendered Third Grader

Kelly Mills — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:35:00 GMT

When a third-grade boy in Pennsylvania decided to transition to being female, his parents asked the school for assistance with peer acceptance. The school consulted with experts on transgender children and asked a school counselor to hold sessions with 100 third graders to explain why their classmate would be taking a different name and wearing female clothing. The idea was to help the kids with acceptance and to prevent them from saying mean things.

So what's the kerfuffle? I bet you can guess. The school sent letters to parents the day before the sessions informing them of what would be happening. And clearly the parents need the counseling more, because while both the guidence counselor and the mom of one of the boy's friends say the kids are pretty cool with the whole thing, the adults are irate. One wrote an interesting and critical commentary of the school, saying, "Introduction of sexual abuse prevention programs over the years should have taught these educators that most parents like to have a say in all aspects of their children's sexual education--particularly one that could be controversial." Is this sexual education? I guess it is in one biological sense of the word 'sex', but it seems to me it's more about diversity, communication, basic decency, and not being an asshole just because your parents are. Then again, I live in California, which the author of the commentary seems to think is nut-land.

Facebook Fighting: Kids and Online Bullying

Kelly Mills — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:32:00 GMT

In general, I'm suspicious of hysteria surrounding how kids use the latest technology--nine times out of ten, they just do the same things kids have always done, but in a more high tech way. However, I'm a little torn as to whether social networking sites are bringing changes to interactions on middle and high school campuses. The Washington Post had one piece on a few fights that started on Facebook, and later became physical confrontations, prompting the principal to ask parents to monitor their kids online.

Frankly, that doesn't seem much different than an argument starting in any off-campus physical space. But Facebook and MySpace have brought some changes to bullying. See, it used to be only the kids with social or physical power over other kids could do big-time bullying. But now, kids can post things about classmates anonymously, and that stuff can spread quickly across a campus. In some ways I suppose it creates more equal opportunities for cruelty, but I have to tell you, nowadays many kids who gets seriously picked on find some of the worst stuff comes from webpages that can be viewed by tons of people. Trust me, we'll be hearing about this one for a while to come.

Your Depressing News For The Day

Adrienne Martini — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Bullying gets all of the coverage these days. Sadly, it's not the most disruptive item in a teenager's list of crap that they have to endure. No, the bigger issue seems to get the least coverage.

According to a new study, more than one-third of middle- and high-schoolers believes that they have been sexually harassed. And if you are a student who is perceived to be gay, the number shoots up to 70 percent. Those of you who've been through high school are simply shaking your head and saying "duh."

The news isn't that this happens but that we still don't have any decent ideas what to do about it -- or if anything can be done at all. Short of tagging each student with a RFID chip and installing cameras in every possible corner of the school, there don't seem to be many answers.

Anyone? Anyone? Don't all raise your hands at once.

Photo credit: Richard Perry

Peanut Butter Bullies and (Lactose) Intolerant Idiots

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:01:00 GMT

The increased number of kids with food allergies is leading to a new kind of schoolyard bully: The food taunter....

This immediately brings up a picture of kids circling around their victim with a wooden spoon covered in peanut butter and it seems funny. At first...

Bullies targeting kids with food allergies is on the rise in parts of the country and the results can be extremely serious. When some girls felt their classmate was faking a peanut allergy, they planned an entire lunch period where all the kids brought food laced with peanuts. Talk about Mean Girls.

The problem with food allergies, as they become more common, is that it does lend itself to a certain amount of taunting. Some parents seem to use their child's food allergies as a ploy to prove the fragile specialness of their beloved. On the other hand, food allergies pose real danger to many kids.

Kids are the canary in the coal mine on this issue. They bully each other to uncover the acceptability of food allergies and any other differences they perceive as weakness. But the image of children chasing each other around with cartons of milk is amusing. I can't help it.

Puff the Magic Bully Stopper

Brett Singer — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:15:00 GMT

Peter Yarrow (one-third of Peter Paul and Mary) is doing his part to stop bullying in schools with Operation Respect (click for a video report from WNBC in New York).

This isn't some dopey updating of PPM tunes (although I admit I wouldn't mind hearing, "If I had a hammer / I'd use it on a bully...") Unlike some child-oriented non-profits, Operation Respect actually seems to do something. McGraw-Hill is distributing, free of charge, a program that OR developed called Don't Laugh At Me, which includes videos, classroom activities and yes, songs written and sung by Yarrow. The materials have been translated into several languages, including Croatian, Hebrew and Arabic. Yarrow says in the WNBC interview that over 22,000 copies have been distributed worldwide.

Educators can visit OR's website to order the free package of materials.

image: WNBC.com

Bullying Makes The Front Page

Brett Singer — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:29:00 GMT

The New York Times put Dan Barry's Monday column on the front page, which would indicate that someone at the paper of record thinks that bullying is a big deal. This particular story is pretty horrible: apparently Billy Wolfe of Fayetteville, Arkansas has been getting regular beatdowns for the past three years, sometimes so bad that he required medical attention.

Although I agree with this blogger that Barry's article doesn't try to show two sides of the story, it's clear that Billy is a target for repeated abuse. The article opens with a description of two students driving up to where Billy is waiting for the school bus, hitting him, and filming the incident with a cellphone camcorder. Ugly, ugly stuff.

What's most disturbing is the reported reactions from school officials. After Billy had to have his cheek sewn up by a dentist after being hit so hard in wood shop that he was briefly unconscious, one official said that, "it looked like Billy got what he deserved" and declined to call the police. Another school official says "Billy and the boy who punched him at the bus stop had exchanged words and shoves a few days earlier."

Somewhat like the "but he called me fat" defense, this doesn't exactly hold water. Do these "school officials" think that knocking someone unconscious is the appropriate response to a verbal fight, or even a physical one? Am I just an East Coast wussy who doesn't think it's acceptable for students to fight until they draw blood?

Billy's parents have filed a lawsuit against the students. One is named (Ian Teeters) and the others are "John Does." There was also some cyberbullying going on; a Facebook page was set up specifically to taunt Billy. This could be significant since cyberbullying is against state law. While I sympathize with the parents, I do think that suing his fellow students isn't likely to make Billy less of a target.

Lots of blogging about this of course, and Jess and Josh Talk About Stuff pointed me to this article from London's Daily Mail. The title, Coping with the bullies 'is part of growing up', says child expert, is enough to make your head explode, but the actual details are less wacko. If it is indeed true that "a child in Kent was arrested for throwing a slice of cucumber from a tuna sandwich at a classmate," then yes, that was a bit much. Unfortunately, it's too easy for some folks to classify any and all fighting as "boys will be boys." The Macho Response has a slightly different take. The blogger adds a little bit of text to the Times article: "So one day Billy walked into wood shop, picked up a two-by-four..." That's one option.

Maybe the bullies are just playing too many videogames.

image: New York Times

Game Designer to Teachers: Don't Knock It Til You Try It

Brett Singer — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Clint Hocking is the Creative Director of Ubisoft Montreal, a video game developer and publisher. His credits include Splinter Cell, a Tom Clancy-inspired adventure game. On his blog, he has a suggestion for the Canadian Teacher's Federation (CTF): before you tell someone not to play a game, why not play it yourself first?

Hocking was responding to the CTF issuing a press release "condemning" the game on the grounds that "the video game [Bully] is mean-spirited in that it trivializes and glorifies bullying in school." According to the release, a total of eight "teacher organizations," including the U.S.-based National Education Association (NEA) have joined in their efforts to pressure retailers not to sell the game. An article in The Globe and Mail offers a fairly balanced discussion of the issues, something Hocking praises in his blog entry.

When it was first released in 2006 for the Playstation 2, Bully caused controversy (for the record, the company that makes the game also makes Grand Theft Auto, so they're used to defending themselves.) Bully just became available for the Wii and the XBox360, prompting this latest outcry. The stated goal of the coalition is to "condemn bullying and cyberbullying in all its forms," which is certainly admirable. But blaming the game? The Globe and Mail piece quotes McGill University professor Michael Hoechsmann as saying, "As tempting as it may seem, I'm not so certain that banning this will somehow result in a more peaceful and more loving school population." Asking retailers to boycott it does call attention to the bullying/cyberbullying problem, but one wonders if the teachers' efforts are a little misplaced.

Hocking actually invites the teachers to play Bully with him, since he hasn't played the game either. Maybe they should take him up on it. This review seems to say that at least some of the criticism is misguided - that the main character, Jimmy Hopkins, is the one who defends "weird chicks, nerds and underdogs" from the bullies, who are often "jocks." So it's a bit, shall we say, retro, but it certainly doesn't sound like the goal is to give wedgies and intimidate other students.

Some school districts, like the one in Charlotte that Mike wrote about, have introduced specific policies that address the problem of bullies, which seems more proactive than issuing press releases about video games.

As the parent of a budding young gamer, I do this weird thing when my kid wants a particular game - research. If possible, I play the game myself first. If I have any doubt about whether or not a game is appropriate, I play it with him so I can see what's going on there. So with all due respect to the teachers, I appreciate the efforts, but video games are really not the problem.

Full disclosure: I haven't played the game myself, and I don't know if the teachers have either. But whether they have or they haven't (my guess is no), Hocking makes a good point.

image: Amazon.com

Sisters Just Say 'No' to Bullying

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:33:00 GMT

Olivia Gardner was the victim of severe bullying that sent her into a serious depression and to several different schools over a two-year period. If no for the compassionate intervention and concern of two sisters from Tamalpais High in Marin County, she might be bullied still.

Sisters Emily, 17, and Sarah Buder, 14, of Mill Valley read Olivia's story in the newspaper in March and launched a letter-writing, email campaign to encourage Olivia. And it worked.

She has since received over 1000 letters of support and encouragement which have shed important light on the problem of bullying.

[Photo Credit: SF Gate]

Bullying In Schools: Getting Out of Hand?

Karen Murphy — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:03:00 GMT

Are bullies in school a fact of life now? Apparently they are: a recent study indicates that 90% of schoolkids reported being bulllied, while almost 60% of kids report being the bully, at least from time to time. Is this sort of behavior rampant? It would seem so.

My daughter Serena, a first-grader, rides the bus home from school every day with her older brother. She also rides with a bully. Every day my Serena is shaken down by another first-grader, a girl who demands Serena's cookies. This girl even had the gall to demand a piece of Serena's birthday cake the day after her birthday! It appalls me to know that this sort of thing goes on even at such a tender age. Fortunately, I know the girl's mother, but I'm not sure whether this makes it easier to approach her about it or more awkward. For now, I'm taking Serena's cue about my becoming involved or not, while at the same time giving her strategies for dealing with the situation; after all, throughout her life she'll encounter people likely to push her around a little and it's good to know how to push back.

Still, it's unnerving and distressing how huge a problem this phenomena is becoming. Bullies are everywhere: in preschools, on the Internet, and obviously, in schools. What to do? The study went on to explain that over 300 interventions have been "discovered" to quash bullying, but only six of them have been determined to actually have any effect, and even those six don't work in every situation and with every kid. Current school intervention programs are only effective in reducing bullying by about 15%.

Whatever happened to that "kindler, gentler world" we heard about?

Today is the 11th Annual LGBT Day of Silence

Karen Murphy — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 19:03:00 GMT

I thought it was quiet around here today. According to Mombian, it turns out that thousands of students are holding silence today in honor of the 11th Annual Day of Silence which is hoped to bring attention to the problem of anti-LGBT bullying, harrassment, and discrimination in schools. Students and teachers alike are observing the day in silence to echo the silence that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered kids and their allies face everyday. Some of the silent kids will pass out "speaking cards" to spread word about and explain what they are doing.

I don't know, when I was a kid, I never thought much about activism. Who wants to stand out, let alone take a stand? The closest I got was to refuse to say the "Pledge of Allegiance" every morning (ooh, I know, I was such a rebel). But these kids, and they're not necessarily LGBT to take part in today's silence, are courageously taking a stand against something that most people won't talk about, let alone do something to bring it to people's attention.

Bullying should be stopped, no matter who is the victim. I applaud these kids and teachers for what they are doing today, and I hope that the increased awareness that it brings will help someone, many someones, even if it's just one kid who's saved from a miserable existence because he's no longer being bullied and harrassed.

Woman Sues NYC for Bullying Incident From 23 Years Ago!

MetroDad — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 23:01:00 GMT

Thanks to my good friends over at Gothamist for turning me onto this crazy story about a woman who is suing New York City over a kindergarten bullying episode that happened 23 years ago! How? Well, after a classmate threw a block that permanently damaged her cornea (and still causes her blurry vision and migraines,) Fatima Bowles filed a complaint in 1985 within the two-year statute of limitations. But the case never progressed and then her lawyers died. A new lawyer at the same firm took the case in 2003 and found the city never moved to dismiss the case for inactivity, so Bowles' lawsuit is on track.

Apparently, a student, who school officials knew was harassing Bowles, threw the block when the teacher left the room briefly. Bowles' lawyer argued that the city "was on notice" yet still "allowed the teacher to go out, leaving the kids alone." A judge agreed and the case is now set to go to trial.

Man, I wish I had thought of filing suit against all those bullies who kicked my ass in kindergarten. Damn statue of limitations!

No Escape from Bullies in Internet Era

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:55:00 GMT

My fist brush with a bully came in third grade, when I begged off a 3 p.m. fight with a decidedly honest, yet painfully embarrassing, admission. "I can't," I said, "My mom's picking me up." I shrugged my shoulders, apologizing for letting my mom come between a bully and his beating.

It's getting so much more difficult for kids to escape their bullies, as this story points out. Thanks to MySpace and other online harassing sites, kids are getting all sorts of grief that used to be confined to the schoolyard.

This story's young girl had to move to several different schools to escape the bullying -- and yet it continued anyway, showing there are no borders when it comes to the Internet ... and how mean kids can be. The mom in this picture is doing a stellar job, if you ask me. She pulled her kid from the schools and decided to home-school her, while also preparing to shut down her access to MySpace. What she doesn't know, I suppose, won't taunt her.

British "Evil Scum" Parents Convicted For Bully Murders

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 12:02:00 GMT

In a case perfectly appropriate for Parents Behaving Badly, a British couple accused of killing the parents of their daughter's "bully" are going to jail.

Natalie Connor and Lucy Cochrane, two teens, met at school and then—big surprise!—had a falling out. Natalie accused Lucy of bullying her and so she and her parents resolved the problem using the only resource available to them: White Trash Justice. The Connors (photo) carried out an 18-month campaign of harrassment against Lucy and her parents culminating with Michael and Jane Connor hatching a plot to pour gasoline through the mailslot of the Cochrane's house and setting the house ablaze. The fire killed the Cochranes and injured Lucy.

Michael and Jane Connor, referred to as "evil scum," came up with their brilliant plan while drunk. It seems that Jane could convince Michael to do anything as long as she plied him with drink, including pouring £3-worth of gas into the mailslot of the Cochrane's home. Looking at their photos, I'll bet cash money that arson and murder aren't the only things Michael was coerced to do for Jane while shit-faced.

These two simpletons will be sentenced later this month and will be going to prison for a good long time. I'm sure they'll spend their years wondering how the hell they were found out. That's the thing about White Trash Justice—it usually doesn't quite work out as planned.

[photo credit: BBC.com]

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