By now, many of you have probably seen the video of a bunch of New York school kids tormenting a bus monitor. They call her fat, make fun of her glasses and say such awful things that I actually had to turn the video off because I just couldn't believe my ears.
The woman, who is 68 and the grandmother to 8 children, was brought to tears.
So was I.
It got me thinking. What do I have to do as a mother so someday I won't see my own child be a bully? And not just a bully of other kids...but adults too.
I can't imagine what it must be like for the parents of these kids to see their own children behaving in such a despicable way. Are they humiliated? Are they angry? Or do they not think it is a big deal?
In my opinion, Marley is not old enough for me to show her the video. I don't believe she would fully understand the situation and I don't want to introduce that kind of hate (yes, HATE) into her consciousness.
But when she is a few years older, I probably will. I will show her and explain to her how sad that woman is for being treated so unfairly. I will also explain that children feed off one another. When one starts talking and acting badly and get a few laughs, others will join in.
It's peer pressure at its worst.
I hope and pray my child will be kind. I am working my hardest to raise her that way. Whenever someone does something mean to her, instead of focusing on what the other child did, I ask her to focus on how it made her FEEL.
People want to feel good. They want to feel loved. And I want Marley to remember how it FEELS when someone treats her badly, so she will think before she treats someone else that way.
As for the parents of those school kids, I hope they are taking the time to really explain why their behavior was so wrong. I know it's easy to focus on the (national) humiliation, but the real message should be that a woman was made to feel like dirt and those kids had NO RIGHT to treat her that way.
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