What Are We Teaching to Our Children? Bullying Is Increasing

For kids, the word VIOLENCE doesn't exist, until we teach it to them with words and examples.

They are happy by nature, and grownups change that by nature too!! Last night, I was watching CNN.
The newscasters were talking about bullying in a show called Stop Bullying: Speak Up. I always ask myself why kids and teens like to be rude and aggressive toward other kids.

My final conclusion is that they are learning this behavior at home and from our environment, especially from the media and the internet. Sometimes we, as parents, think that kids being aggressive is normal, that they will change when they grow up, and just ignore the behavior.
Other times, we cannot see a problem, because we behavior like that every day and it looks normal to us.

I understand that most of the time, we parents teach our kids the same way we were taught.
That is the only way we know.

If we were treated with love, we teach love, but if we were treated with violence that instilled fear in us, we teach that to our kids. Statistics about bullying are increasing every year in the USA.

In a recent study, How to Stop Bullying, 77% of students say they have been bullied mentally, verbally and physically.

Kids bully other kids for different reasons: low self-esteem, immature social skills, mental problems (ex.
anger issues), insecurity, jealousy, sadness, self-centered parents, abuse and more. Bullies are often victims of bullies themselves.
I have a daughter -eight years old- and she always tells me how her day was at school.

When she has some problem with her friends, I ask her if it was caused by how she treated them. As a parent, I have a feeling when it was her fault. I say to her that I love her no matter what, but if she did something wrong, then we need to fix it.

Sometimes she writes a letter to apologize to her friend and sometimes she apologizes in person.

She has received letters from her friends, too.
And if she didn't do anything wrong, I encourage her to be nice and love her friends, even when they say rude things and she feels upset. If she really feels angry about it, walk away for a while and do something else with other friends.

Never argue with the offenders. If somebody threatens her or tries to abuse her physically, I encourage her strongly to tell the teacher or an adult at school - and especially, tell me when I pick her up from school.
Daniela, my daughter, knows that I love her because I always show her my love. We have dreams/goals together.
We practice our positive affirmations every day.

We visualize and talk about things we want. She knows she can achieve anything she wants. I'm teaching her responsibility and to "work" for the things she wants. She loves to write and draw.

She is planning to create her own business.
She's my brave entrepreneur! I'm helping her as much as I can. I give her freedom to be herself and encourage her to share her thoughts and plans with me.

She is learning that other will treat her the same way she treats them.
If she gives love and respect, then she will receive the same from others.
She knows that she is a beautiful girl and she deserves only good things.
Nobody has the right to hurt her. Is very important to support our children and take care with the WORDS we say and the example we give to them.
Kids are very creative and they can learn very fast -positive and negative things.

If we, as parents, are not involved in their lives, they look for other role models to fill the emptiness.

We live in a very violent, digital world where children and teenagers can find a "parent-substitute" very easily on the computer -social networking, video gaming and chats, etc.- and in older friends who accept them and teach them bad-rebel behavior. If you have a bullying problem (with a victim or a bully) at home, you need to take care of it as soon as you can, before it has a tragic ending. And if you don't have a bullying problem -thank God- it is a must to be involved in your kid's life.

Every day is a challenge and an opportunity to talk with our children about how they feel, what they think, what their dreams are and about everything going on in their lives. Treat them with love and respect. Let them know they are important to you, and you really care about them.

Nobody teaches us to be a parent, but every one of us wants the best for our kids.

Do your best and be a good role model to your children.

Everything starts at home.
Don't transfer the responsibility of educating your kids to others.

Love is action -be happy and love your children and family every day!