2 Mean 4 U
Everyone remembers their school years. Elementary and high school, or at least I do. I always remember wishing for it to be over, and to get out into the real world. I still feel the same, I do not yearn for the "carefree days"of being a student. It was a nightmare. I am not the only one who hated school. I was teased, abused and frankly tortured. I remember one girl who didn't like what I was wearing that day so she grabbed my head and slammed it into the side of a dumpster. The teachers response was "Ignore them and they'll go away". How do you make them go away when they come after you? Adults wonder why the suicide rate among school aged children is up. The answer is not that difficult to figure out.
I am an adult now and though this horrible behavior isn't present in the same form at the workplace it can still manifest. What is different though, is that it is not tolerated at least not in my company. You can and will be fired for being a jackass. What is the underlying mechanism that drives young people to engage in behavior that they would otherwise not? Even their parents are gobsmacked when they hear that their precious, sweet child is in fact an abusive, terror. People, this will not be news... It is the same mechanism that drives young people to join a gang. Friends who torture together, stay together. You are either with them or against them and no one wants to be on the outside.
Could we stop this? Not likely since it is a part of the development process in our society. What we can do as adults is to listen to our kids, whether they are on the giving or receiving end of the bullying. Kids will give off subtle hints that they are having or giving trouble. Ask the right question and you may uncover the answer.
Parents would do well to listen closely to their children as they recount (or fail to) their school day. I realize we are all so busy but hey, what did we have kids for? What is done today may take years to undo later on, if you're lucky enough to get that chance. Kids will be kids, but it is our duty as parents and supervising adult to make sure they are kids for as long as possible without the abuse, bullying and misery.
I am an adult now and though this horrible behavior isn't present in the same form at the workplace it can still manifest. What is different though, is that it is not tolerated at least not in my company. You can and will be fired for being a jackass. What is the underlying mechanism that drives young people to engage in behavior that they would otherwise not? Even their parents are gobsmacked when they hear that their precious, sweet child is in fact an abusive, terror. People, this will not be news... It is the same mechanism that drives young people to join a gang. Friends who torture together, stay together. You are either with them or against them and no one wants to be on the outside.
Could we stop this? Not likely since it is a part of the development process in our society. What we can do as adults is to listen to our kids, whether they are on the giving or receiving end of the bullying. Kids will give off subtle hints that they are having or giving trouble. Ask the right question and you may uncover the answer.
Parents would do well to listen closely to their children as they recount (or fail to) their school day. I realize we are all so busy but hey, what did we have kids for? What is done today may take years to undo later on, if you're lucky enough to get that chance. Kids will be kids, but it is our duty as parents and supervising adult to make sure they are kids for as long as possible without the abuse, bullying and misery.
posted by Blair A-E at 7:19 PM
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