I read a story today of a 15 year old girl who committed suicide this week because of the relentless bullying she was getting both at school and online. A month before her death she posted a youtube video sharing her story in hopes that it would help someone else going through the same thing. I’m not sure why her story stuck with me so much, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all night. This girl was absolutely beautiful and incredibly talented, yet even in death, there were many cruel comments posted on the video. I was shocked at how unrelenting these young people. It was utterly heartbreaking to watch the bullying continue.
Bullying has been around since the beginning of time, but in this day in age we are facing a much bigger problem as kids are turning to the internet to publicly attack one another. There is safety in hiding behind the computer screen. It makes bullying too easy and it is spreading like wildfire among young people. Nearly 43% of teens say they have been bullied online, most of them more than once. Most of the time the victims never mention anything to their parents or teachers about what is going on. Many are embarrassed by the things that are being said and choose to keep the incident to themselves.
As parents we need to be aware of what our kids are doing online. We need to monitor both what is being posted on their page and what they are posting on the pages of others so that we can prevent this from happening. If you find that your child is being bullied, don’t hesitate to talk to them about it. Parents need to be involved and aware of what is going on in their children’s lives. They need to know that they have your love and support and that you will do anything in your power to help them. Talk to other parents about the issue of bullying. We as a community need to show our young people that bullying will not be tolerated. They need to know just how serious it is. Children are losing their lives over this. It should not be taken lightly. No one deserves to be bullied, no matter who they are or what they have done. This has to stop.