It’s that time again. The time when we try to bring awareness to one of the worst epidemics facing our children…bullying. I know what it is like to be bullied, I know what it is like to get beat up. It’s a horrible feeling and it is something that never leaves your mind. When you see it happening to your own child, it’s like opening the wounds of your own experiences all over again, only this time, it isn’t about you. It’s about protecting your children. When I was younger, it wasn’t something that was talked about. Now days, we can’t get kids to talk about it soon enough and that needs to change. When children are committing suicide and more than 160,000 are missing school on any given day, it’s more than a problem. It’s facing children everywhere today, and while we’ve made a lot of progress, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
I was so happy to learn of the Office Depot Foundation – an independent, nonprofit philanthropic arm of Office Depot – is in partnership with Brooks Gibbs, one of the nation’s leading youth crisis counselors and bullying experts – and they have rolled out its “Be The Difference. Speak Up Against Bullying!” program in middle schools across the U.S. during the upcoming school year, with support from that adorable pop sensation band One Direction and Office Depot.
Gibbs, author of the book Love is Greater Than Hate, is conducting school assemblies for students as well as anti-bullying education sessions for parents, teachers and administrators around the nation throughout the school year. The campaign aims to give students the confidence and courage to use the Golden Rule as a strategy for reducing bullying. Gibbs’ “treat everyone like friends – even your enemies” philosophy enhances One Direction’s message of “Live Nice.”
Please remember that October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and initiatives like the Office Depot Foundation’s “Be The Difference. Speak Up Against Bullying!” programs are working hard to put an end to the bullying epidemic…are you doing your part?
Please take a moment to check it out…and get your school involved! www.officedepotfoundation.org/be_the_difference.asp
I am glad that people are starting to take bullying serious because it is a big problem in schools today. A lot of kids are bullied as early as elementary school. Parents have to know how to spot these problems at an early age because it can scar a child for the rest of their lives