Sunday cartoon: Be a buddy not a bully

BURRILLVILLE – Recently, news stories have been circulating that students as young as kindergartners have been involved with bullying other students in schools, both in this area, and on a nationwide level.

My own family members have been bullied in schools, playgrounds, bus stops and on the internet over the past few weeks. It’s not a very good situation to be deal with. Tens-of-thousands of kids are afraid to go to school fearing bullies on a daily basis across America.

The overall atmosphere involving bullying is extremely stressful, not only for those that are physically and mentally bullied personally. It also indirectly impacts others in the family that have to deal with their child, or children, being targeted by a bully, or bullies.

This week’s Sunday Feature is a coloring cartoon addressing three separate bullying platforms; phone bullies, face-to-face bullies and computer bullies. The Itty Bitty SUPER DUPERS Anti-Bullying Coloring Campaign has been utilized for the past ten years in communities trying to curb bullying violence. But there hasn’t been a saturation attempt to bring this anti-bullying campaign into schools. I think it’s obvious to anyone with children being bullied that it should be available and brought into schools everywhere. With many schools no longer having resource police officers on location the uptick of bullying is very obvious and evident to many families everywhere.

Please print out this Itty Bitty SUPER DUPERS Anti-Bullying Campaign coloring cartoon and talk to your kids about bullying. Some kids might be too afraid to even tell an adult or teacher that they are in fact, being bullied. Bullies often tell their victims not to tell anyone or it would get even worse for them.

I’ve witnessed it myself. I was bullied a lot in grade school. Middle and high school was a different story. I often stood up for victims of bullies and challenged those bullies to pick on someone that could defend themselves, and leave defenseless and timid kids alone. Bullying should be open to discussion and not swept under the rug or adult thought patterns saying, “kids will be kids.” That’s a cop out attitude and puts innocent little kids in harm’s way. Let’s not forget that kids are bullied in their own homes by siblings and even adults.

Bullying is not acceptable anywhere and should stop altogether if that’s even possible. Kids shouldn’t live in fear because they have to contend with a bully, or bullies, in their lives. Please tell your own children to “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully!”