With today’s technology, teen bullying seems like an epidemic. You hear about it on television, you read about it in the newspaper.
But then when it occurs in your own life, when your child is hurt by someone, it enrages you.
So where does childish fun end and bullying begin?
Facebook and Twitter are the most advanced platforms for cyberbullying, and it’s not just kids. Look at all these out-of-control “housewives” taking to Twitter to try and ruin people’s lives—as if the damage they do on their TV shows wasn't already enough. Now we have tweens and teenagers on the cyberbullying bandwagon.
Why would they feel it's okay to call someone fat online? Or a slut?
How could someone think they have the right to video tape their gay roommate making love, then broadcast it over the internet driving the roommate to end his life?
Bullying may seem harmless and most parents think it’s normal kid stuff—but my dear parent, times have changed since you were a kid. We now have Wi-Fi and cellphones, it’s not the same as when we were kids with pay phones and later beepers.
Now our children can take a picture or make a statement in seconds for ALL the world to see. Another child's life can forever be ruined in mere seconds. Bullying isn't in anyway "normal" kid stuff. It is illegal and it should be. A child should pay the consequences for their actions, and so should their parents. It’s no joke anymore.
Bullying can cause that fat kid to overeat and drown their embarrassment in more food, or it may cause them to go to the other extreme and become bulimic or anorexic. When your child calls someone a faggot, that kid will forever be changed and his life will be over shadowed by the label.
Is my child a crack head? A fat pig? Is my child is a slut? A faggot? When did my child become a psychopath? Why is my child a loser?
Hey! My child is none of these things, but thanks to your child, my precious child will forever have one of these labels attached to their name. You as the parent need to step up and control your child. Instead of ignoring the madness or supporting the madness.
Stop the madness!
We need to realize that calling someone vicious names or defaming them with private pictures sent to everyone they know is not a joke—it can lead to suicide. We never want to bury our children. Your child may be the bully today and the victim tomorrow.
Take away the iPhone and iPad until they are mature enough to understand the damage they can do with their “jokes”.
But now that people are starting to get that bullying, and cyberbullying in particular, are real problems that do real damage, don’t just accept it as “kids will be kids”.
It’s not OK.
Call the school, call the cops, call the other parents, call your local newspaper. This has to stop.
Please listen to the song I attached I saw Chaka Khan sing this for the first time to her granddaughter who was at the point of breaking. Chaka cried through the whole song and said that was the last time she will ever sing that song. The words are so POWERFUL.
Editor's Note: 14-year-old Eira Maghuyop of Yonkers committed suicide earlier this week. A YouTube video put together by her friends said she took her own life because she was bullied.
According to wsbt.com, Maghuyop attended Ursline School in New Rochelle, and school officials "tried to make it clear that she was not bullied in school and those who bullied her did not attend Ursuline."
Click above to watch the YouTube video, and here for the Facebook page dedicated to her.
