Tuesday, May 20, 2014

How is bullying different from 25 yrs ago?

I know this post is going to be controversial to some people who mis-read it, but I need to state this and ask the question.....how is bullying that much different from when we were kids??

I am very thankful that from what I know, my kids are not being bullied...to my knowledge. However, I also think that they are just oblivious to that type of thing because they don't really know what bullying is yet.
But my question is....what is so different about it, that makes kids these days want to take the extremes that they do? I know its a serious thing, and I know how it came make a kid feel, heck I went through it too. I am wondering, am I missing something? Am I just not to that point yet with my children, so I don't know?

In elementary school in FL, I went to a school that had maybe 20 white kids in the entire school. I didn't mind. However, there was a lot of fighting amongst the students. I remember there was this one girl who kept waning to "beat me up". I have no idea why. But I was on the bus schedule and she wasn't, so she never really got a chance to try. I was scared, I may have cried a little in bed, but I knew each day that I had to march right back to school and just deal with it. That is what teachers and principals were for, right?

I middle school, I was picked on for being geeky & nerdy and just really easy to make fun of.  I had gum put in my hair, was pointed and laughed at, talked about, made fun of...and some of this was from my own friends. God forbid if I said the wrong thing in the wrong way, and someone took it totally wrong. (which i still have issues with but that's what "talking it out" is for) But I also knew that it was part of that part of my life. Girls are mean.....point blank.

All in all, I knew that it was all just a part of life, that I would get through. High school doesn't lasts forever. School is such a small part of the big picture of life.  Yes it sucks at the time, but it will pass.

I guess I just don't understand how today's' technology makes things so much worse, then it was for us back when. With today's technology you can delete people from your FB or block them. You can change your phone number, screen name, or cancel your account all together. So I guess i just don't get it.

It is sad and I feel really bad for kids that go through it, but i wonder, how things are so different, that kids are getting to THIS point? Or is it just that we now have something else to blame emotional issues on, and just that with today's technology, we just know about it more then we did in the 80s/90s?

I'm not justifying it by any means, just trying to understand how its progressed through the years.

I guess I should just be glad that the facts and stories ARE out there, so we as parents can be aware and keep involved in our children's lives a little more, to help them through these times and help them realize that although it sucks big time...it WILL pass. And be sure to teach our children to that's its not fair to see black and white...but to give people a chance, and not judge them without knowing a thing about them.





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