Did You Know That....

* 1 out of 4 kids is Bullied.
* 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally, & physically.
* 1 out of 5 kids admits to being a bully, or doing some "Bullying."
* 8% of students miss 1 day of class per month for fear of Bullies.
* 43% fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
* 100,000 students carry a gun to school.
* 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.
* More youth violence occurs on school grounds as opposed to on the way to school.
*Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Adult intervention - 4%. Peer intervention -
11%. No intervention - 85%.

As a parent those numbers are scary aren't they?


Why do I bring this up?

Sydney was the target of a bully at her last school. This little girl made Sydney's life hell. The school and teacher refused to do anything about it and I myself failed too because I didn't press the issue hard enough. Sydney didn't want me to report it and I found myself telling her that "Sometimes in life your going to run across people who are like this and you need to work it out"

Well I swore I would not do that again if this situation ever came up. After moving to Germany things seemed to be really looking up for Sydney. She was really thriving here until a few weeks ago.

The mood swings kicked in and getting Syd to school was getting harder and harder. Our morning consisted of frequent fights to get ready for school and then when she got to school the frequent visits to the nurse began. Paul and I blew it off at first chalking it up hormones probably kicking in and the end of the school year right around the corner.

UNTIL...

My neighbor approached me telling me her little girl had shared with her somethings going on during the bus ride to and from school. It then suddenly all made sense and again I felt like I had failed Syd because the signs were there and again I missed them.

Not to get into specifics of what was said or done Syd had been enduring a nightmare ride to and from school on the bus for weeks. When I asked her about it the flood gates open. Even Zac who rides the same bus hadn't even peeped a word of this until we asked him point blank.

What's different this time?

I didn't make light of it and didn't tell her to suck it up. Paul and I immediately went to the appropriate people to report this. This time is different too in that we were not given the brush off by the bus supervisor and he has a "No Tolerance" policy. These girls are being dealt with accordingly at this moment.

Why not go to the school?

Well we went there first and were given the brush off but we didn't accept that answer. I also am not done by a LONG short with dealing with school and their brush off on this issue. However, that is a rant for another day. Before anyone asks how couldn't the bus driver hear what was going on. Well I'm sure he heard ever word the only problem is he probably didn't understand it since he speaks about as much English as I do German. Again, another rant for another day :)

We are currently still working through this situation and it hasn't been completely resolved yet so I will be sure to keep everyone updated as to the outcome.

So in my long blabbing story the morale of the story is bullying is a lot more common then I thought. Even if you think it could never happen to your child it probably has or could. The days of simple teasing are replaced with something more viscous and hurtful. If your child complains of a bully don't minimize it report it immediately and stick to your guns until someone somewhere in the school system does something about it.