Last night, CNN’s Anderson Cooper told of a second 11-year-old boy taking his life after bullying at his elementary school became too much for him to handle. Jaheem Herrera, of Georgia, had cried about not wanting to go to school, that he was called gay over and over to the point he just didn’t want to hear it again. Complaints to the school seemed to fall on deaf ears.
But on April 16, Jaheem appeared happy when he came home from school with a glowing report card. It may have been a glimmer of hope for his mother Masika Bermudez that her …read more

Based on what I’d read about last nights episode, I expected the father to be far more ‘bullying’ then he actually was.
I could see the family had obvious troubles, but I didn’t see their problems as being that far out of the ordinary.
I think the biggest problem this family has is the fact that dad has to be gone so much with his job as a truck driver.
Having been a single parent for a number of years, I can speak firsthand on the benefit of having two parents around.
There’s a very good friend of mine who is with her children …read more

Jo Frost tries to help a family with four children whose father’s disciplinary style is more bullying than beneficial.

A group of teens who Get It!
Oshkosh Teens Speaking Out is a group of local young people from various religious denominations taking a stand against bullying in light of school violence throughout Wisconsin by asking parents to pay more attention to their kids.
The group, which started meeting around the end of October, is finalizing a letter to local parents with instructions on how to be better parents and how to deter their kids from becoming future bullies and perpetuators of school violence.
A sampling of tips for parents from Oshkosh Teens Speaking Out:
Understand that I am not perfect – be patient
Teach …read more

How many of you have seen the Lindsay Lohan movie Mean Girls?  How many of you have teenage daughters and actually know how they act when they are not around you?  Furthermore, how many of you care to know?
Last night a close friend of mine phoned and was very anxious about some harassment her teen daughter was enduring via the internet and more specifically, MySpace. 
Now, before anyone starts getting all up into the MySpace thing, let me point out that this particular mother actually monitors her daughter’s online activity and only allowed a MySpace profile IF the mother’s MySpace was …read more