Big Bad Bullies

I just took a poll on CNN.com asking if I'd ever been bullied. The options were "A little", "A lot" or "Never." Do you believe that only 20% of the 120,000 people who participated said they have never been bullied? My answer was "A little." What would yours be?

I think a more important question is what can we do as parents, teachers and a community to prevent our children from feeling the effects of being bullied and more so, prevent them from bullying anyone else. Growing up is so hard and often difficult to understand without having to worry about other people teasing or criticizing you for just being yourself. On top of the regular turbulence most kids feel, you never know who may be dealing with depression or struggling with issues like sexual identity or a bad home life. It is a recipe for disaster.

As a mom, my plan is to always speak very openly to my children about the wide variety of people it takes to make the world go round. I want them to learn acceptance and to not be afraid to stand up for other kids. I know Elliot will have no problem with this. My older daughter, Presley, is a lot more easily influenced and I worry a lot about her.

I also plan on sharing with them about my own battle with depression once they are old enough to understand. I will share with them about being teased because my pants were too short in German class in eighth grade. I will share with them about the girl who tormented me because of my name in high school. I will share how miserable it all made me feel, and while as an adult I still remember that hurt, I am only a stronger, more compassionate person because of it.

I believe that really the best thing we can do to with our kids is to talk, talk and talk some more. I also believe that cell phones and Facebook accounts are not meant to be kept private from parents. I realize this will be an unpopular opinion once my kids are old enough to have all of this, but I will read texts and I will have passwords. This might make me "the worst mom ever," but I'll take that risk for the sake of having healthy, safe and kind children.