By the time this article is published,it will have been a day or two since I read an article about a young man in college whose body was found Monday.He was a student at Ruetgers University in New Jersey who commited suicide.
His roommate and a friend of the roommate,placed a webcam in the young man's dorm room and placed a video of this young man having sex online.I know,there's all kinds of those videos online,nothing new there.The problem is,the young man was gay.The other problem was,he was still 'in the closet'.
This was a form of bullying,simply because it caused great harm to this young man and his family.More and more,there are many reports of children being bullied at school.And more and more of them are committing suicide because of the harrassment.
My own daughter was a victim of bullying.Not to the extent that she committed suicide,but enough to warrant putting her into a private school that we really can't afford.
As parents,it's our job to sacrifice anything, and sometimes everything, to ensure our children get a good education.The school we transferred our daughter out of now has a No Tolerance policy.For all the good it does.If the teachers report a student for bullying,they are told the principal will handle it.
The principal suspends the bullying student for a couple of days,which is what that child wants anyway,and makes them promise not to do it again.What good is that? I'm not saying I have a solution for the epidemic because I don't.But someone needs to be held accountable for the bully's actions.
The first ones to be held accountable are the parents.They are the ones who raised this child to be a bully.We have to find a way to stop the bullying.As a parent,I would stop everything I am doing to go sit in my chlid's class to ensure that she wouldn't be bullied.
And yes I would go every day if need be.Now I understand not everyone can do that.With today's economy and a lot of single parent households,it's impossible.So what are parents to do?Talk to your kids.Pay close attention to changes in behavior,like staying off by themselves,changes in eating habits,study habits and such things as that.
Make yourself visible at school,get to know all the teachers,find out who the other kids are in your childs class.That doesn't mean you have to go to every function the school has,it just means make yourself known to the students and faculty as a person who is there for their child.
Go talk to the principal and teachers the first day of school.Pop up for lunch a couple of days a week for your child.You wil get to see who your child hangs around with and who is a possible bully.
If your child doesn't want to talk about school,maybe you can do a journal for school life.Make sure your child knows that he/she will not get in trouble if they are being bullied.You just really need to be as active as possible in your child's school life.That's a start on what parents can do to stop bullying.
What else are the schools doing to protect our children? One thing would be to put police officers in the schools themselves.The school boards can hire private security firms to walk the halls and monitor students.Put video cameras in the halls and classrooms.Something.I have no problem with video cameras,security guards,or police officers roaming the halls of my daughter's school.
As parents,we have to feed our children,clothe them,get medical care for them,and make sure they get a good education so they can be productive individuals when they grow up.How are our children supposed to get an education of any kind if they are constantly harrassed and bullied at school?
I don't have the end all solution,I wish I did.But as parents,maybe I have given you ideas for your schools to help ensure your child's safety.The bullying epidemic,I'm afraid to say,will soon pass some of the diseases that kill thousands of people evry year.We've lost too many children already to this epidemic.
We have to do something to stop this.Bullying is becoming way too rampant and if we the parents,don't start doing something soon,no one will have a future.Bulling will cause more deaths than drunk drivers,cancer and any other disease in the next few years.

Author's Bio: 

I am the mother of 5 children and was a vitim of bullying as a child.Bullying has always been a major problem but has only come to light because of the increase in suicides by our young people.We have to stand tall for our children.If we don't who will?