A Great Anti-Bullying Exercise

My mom sends me e-mails of anything she thinks I might like or love to use/talk about on my blog. So when she sent me this amazing story about a teacher who took the time to teach her kids about the effect of bullying, I knew in an instant that I had to share this with you. My mom found this story off of Facebook that someone had posted on a group called "Wipe Out Homophobia". There is no mention of gays or lesbians being bullied in this story, but as we all know - people of a different sexuality do get bullied which is why the women posted this story in this group. (Even if you do not agree with the gay life style, I think we can all agree that no one ever deserves to be bullied or made to feel less than human because of who they love). 

After reading this story, I encourage you to do this exercise with your kids. This exercise will show them the lasting effects bullying can have on someone. Here is the story and the activity the teacher had her class do: 

"A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told... them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home. Pass it on or better yet, if you're a parent or a teacher, do it with your child/children."

Hope and Love,
Becca