Bullying

There has been a lot of articles and stories done in the media lately about bullying, and as I was browsing in Professor Harlan’s posts on Twitter I saw the post made today with a link to a blog post about bullying.  Bullying has always been a sensitive topic with me.  We moved around a lot when I was younger, which did not promote close friendships with neighbor kids.  Hence, I was not a popular kid.  I, in fact, had no friends for a very long time.   But let me go back a ways…I was rather unremarkable as a kid, not fat, sick, ugly, no glasses, etc.  And yet I was a favorite target…I have since figured out that it was because I was usually the “new” kid which meant fresh meat.  I may not have been a big kid, but I grew up with three older brothers.  Three very rambunctious brothers that loved nothing more than teasing, wrestling, and thumping on one another, and me.  I learned very young how to defend myself with incredible success.  They weren’t hard and mean, just tough and determined that I should be tough too.  When I got to elementary school I saw older kids picking on the younger kids.  It made me mad.  So, so, so, so mad.  I got in “trouble” regularly…not for bullying kids, but for beating up the bullies.  I was fairly small and I was fast, and I had survived Yarrington boys 101, which meant I was a dirty fighter.  The principal of my elementary school soon became one of my best friends because I spent a lot of time in her office explaining why I had beat up some 6^th grader again. 

              But enough of my recollections.  Bullying is an ugly disease that is getting worse and worse in the schools and not only in elementary, but also in junior high and even high school.  School staff is limited because of society’s way of suing first and asking questions later, so many of these bullies are allowed to run pretty much unchecked.  And if there is one thing I learned from elementary school (besides that I still hate my 6^th grade teacher) it’s that kids are mean!  Mean and nasty…especially to each other and those they deem weak.  What can be done?  As librarians, honestly, there isn’t much we can do except be prepared to offer help, encouragement and, of course, friendship to any young kid looking for it.  A child that has a good self esteem and knows they are loved is less likely to be a true victim of bullying.  My personal opinion is that kids caught bullying should be checked…hard.  There is no excuse for it, and the current punishments in place have obviously not worked…since when is getting a day off (suspension) an intelligent punishment?  The punishment should be something nasty…like cleaning all the bathrooms in the building…every day for a month, with a toothbrush!