October is National Bully Awareness Month, and my good friend Maribel at Stroller Adventures wants to help bring awareness to this cause.
It is so important because it happens, and I truly believe learning about Bullying starts at home. Taking the time to sit down with your children, your relatives, whoever, to have that conversation about bullying can change perspectives.
And now, it’s my time to share my story with Bullying. I never have forgotten these stories, but I have moved on.
When I first moved into my neighborhood there was another girl my age who instantly knocked on my door. From that moment on we began playing together and became friends. Years of this went on, but then one day, she decided she didn’t care for me anymore, and from that moment, things changed.
Not only did she decide she didn’t like me anymore, she convinced everyone else in the neighborhood to also pick on me. Needless to say, there were two parts of the day I absolutely dreaded: the bus ride to school, and the bus ride home each day. It became the time when those in the neighborhood would gang up on me.
My brother was already in high school at the time, so I honestly had to fend for myself on that bus ride every day. And it was that feeling of dread. Most days I’d just stare down at my feet as I rode home. I came home, told my mom about it, and the instant response was “just ignore it.” I realized this didn’t exactly work. It only encouraged them more to keep pressing on, so that’s what they did. It got to the point that when I received my class schedule for one quarter and realized she was in all of my classes, I was petrified. But, class schedules did get moved around so I could focus and not be afraid anymore.
The bullying didn’t stop there. Once a little girl acquires a crush on someone in school, it’s noticeable, and boy, did others notice. And all of a sudden a game was started in my locker. Suddenly, I had a secret admirer, suddenly, more things happened that made me rather embarrassed more than anything. It was those little things, but in the end, it just didn’t leave a person feeling very good.
But things changed when one day I received a threatening note in my locker. All I remember is that it made me cry, and it made me afraid. I took that note to my mother, and later on that evening, the cops were at our door. In that note, received in my locker, someone had threatened my life. I didn’t take it seriously, but my mom sure did.
And it’s in that instant, right there, I’ve learned how important it is to have a parent involved in a child’s life, but to be aware with what they’re going through in school, at home, in the neighborhood, but also in how important it is to have that conversation about bullying and being respectful to other classmates. Although I’m not a parent, I know this information in my heart.
This is why, in coordination with National Bully Awareness Month and Insight Editions, we are giving away the book “Bully” by Sheri Safran. This book brings families together as it walks you through the conversation of bullying with your child. And one of my lucky readers has the chance to win this:
October 10th is Wear Orange Day to bring Awareness to Bullying. I know I will be bringing out the orange this day to acknowledge how important this topic is. Please join me in wearing orange.
Disclosure: Insight Editions is giving the book “Bully” away to one lucky reader. This is not a paid sponsored post.
