Bully Prevention

Linda and her grandma.
Linda said she was bullied for a long
period of time in her childhood, and that her
grandmothers really helped her through
"these rough years of my life."

Mary Gordon started the Roots of Empathy Program because she wanted to make a difference. She states, “You could tell, right from the initial entrance [into school], which ones were going to be winners and which ones would struggle” ( p.16). I agree with her because I taught at a daycare for awhile and you could see it in children. I understand where she is coming from because I have been there with my preschool classes. However, I made it a point to make sure all of them were able to write their names, say their letters and numbers, as well as understand what others were asking them and were able to respond back. I wish there was a program like this when I was younger because then other children would not be afraid to step in and help.

I attended Franklin Head Start and I liked it because my grandma also worked there. She was the nurse’s aide and I remember she would always come into my classroom. I enjoyed school until I started kindergarten. The first day of class my mom put pink ribbons in my hair and I had on a pink fluffy dress. Everything was fine until the bus ride home because when I got off of the bus, my dress was a deep red. An older boy had pushed me down in the bus. My mom was mad and questioned the bus drive,r and he said, “I didn’t see what was going on, I was driving the bus.” I let my mom know he was lying because it happened as I was getting off of the bus. I remember it like it happened yesterday.

            When I read about Darren asking, “If nobody has ever loved you, do you think you could still be a good father?” I started crying and had to put down the book. I can relate with this because I used to think of something similar. Gordon talks about Darren and what he saw when he was a child. Even though I still have both of my parents and I was never put in foster homes, I feel we have a lot in common. I think children come from all walks of life and based on what they have seen or done, they usually act similarly in some ways. There were times when I felt like it was me against everyone else. It started when I was in about the eighth grade. I would ask myself, “Why am I even here if my family members and friends treat me like an outcast? Do I truly have any purpose?” I would cry myself to sleep at night because of the hurt I felt. However, I refused to let anyone know what was really going on with me.

            According to Gordon, Justice Edward Ormston, a criminal court judge, once told her, “If the lessons that children learn in Roots of Empathy could have been taught to the people I deal with every day, we’d have far less need for prisons” (p. 26-27). Growing up where I did, I can agree with what he has said because in school there are bullies who prey on vulnerable children. Then later these children begin to seek someone to help them with the bullies. These children are doing whatever it takes to join a gang so they will have protection. Once you are in a gang you can never get out, but children do not take this into consideration. Instead, they are looking forward to the gang protecting them from bullies. Then these children who were once innocent are now on the run, in prison, or dead.

            I admit it is sad seeing children younger than me having to serve life sentences for murder. If these children had an intervention like this program then they might have gone a different route. After learning about this program I want to advocate for children and their families. I was always the person who just stood in the back and let everyone else answer questions. Lately after getting more knowledge, I want to be an activist for these families. I am studying Child Development and Women’s Studies so I figure, so far, I am on the right track. I need to start making myself more aware of problems and what I can do to fix them or begin trying.