“We’ve got to dispel this myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage.”
President of the United States
A topic that is in the news and touches me dearly-Bullying. That was Monday’s lesson. And here is how I started my lesson
“Have any of you ever felt bullied by someone else, raise your hands”
Every little girl raised her hand. Remember that these are only 3rd -5th graders and they already are so aware of bullies. So it came as no surprise that these bright intelligent girls had plenty of input about bullying. Its different today though, at least before we used to be able to go home and feel safe there but now Bullies enter our rooms through our children’s cell phones and social networking accounts. The kids are surrounded and I am getting one hour to teach them how to deal with bullies and still get some exercise in their routine.
And to be honest, I think they absorbed it better than I could imagine. They are so insightful as kids. I think parents understand this best but I don’t remember being that smart as a kid. I mean, I know I was a smart kid but I don’t remember being so aware of such things.
These kids give me so much hope though that there is so much good in humanity. So, as I came into work the next day and that woman who sits a few cubes away bullies me again for whatever reason she felt she needed to pick on me, I just smile. Because I know better, being a bully isn’t a sign of strength, standing up to a bully is what takes real courage and strength and those little girls helped teach me that when I heard how they feel about bullies.
Wednesday, the first one in weeks where it was absolutely beautiful outside! I mean…just absolutely perfect and we have a fun day planned of talking about friends. And I have two sullen girls on my team. They are just at that age where sullen is something they are beginning to master. And I was bummed, honestly bummed that I couldn’t do anything to cheer them up and get them excited about what we had planned. But we moved forward because that is the motto of our little team and I worked as best as I could around them hoping that maybe a little of the happiness of the other girls would rub off. But you know what, bad moods can be contagious so you have to remember to work extra hard even when you are struggling with a girl to be in an extra good mood. I definitely have my assistant coach who is great at bring that happy positive energy to practice and a couple of the girls recognized what was happening and they worked extra hard to be cheery.
And the girls learned about choosing their friends. And while the message sort of portrayed itself that a girl shouldn’t ever choose to be friends with someone who is negative my team is just too smart. And they said-but sometimes people have bad days and maybe if you are a good friend to them, they can learn from you to be a better friend to others.
And I think they did a fantastic job of trying to bring their team mates back into the fold and cheer them up. And let me tell you that those girls can run when being chased. The assistant coach and I played freeze tag with them and they sure did out run us a good amount.
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