“Everyone has the right to be respected and the responsibility to respect others.”
It’s hard enough going back to school – new teachers, new classes, new lockers and so on – without the added stress of having to look over your shoulder to see who might be targeting you… yes, the bully has returned with you.
Too many children (one in seven students ages 11 to 16 according to one study) endure bullying in Canadian schools. When you add TS to the mix, it can all become pretty overwhelming.
With its often attention-drawing and easily mocked symptoms, TS unfortunately can and does make a child with the disorder an attractive target for bullies. Both the child and the parent need to be very aware about how to prevent bullying and deal with it if it does occur. This requires the parent(s) to educate themselves and their child about bullying and establish a relationship with each other that actively encourages open communication.
To become better informed, visit www.bullying.org, a Canadian website that has some valuable resources about bullying as well as current news. It’s one of many great anti-bullying websites out there.
You may also wish to check out Jaylen’s Challenge at www.jaylenschallenge.org. He’s a brave kid with TS+ who’s out to stop bullying all over the world:
Have you or someone you know had a bad experience with bullying? How did it get handled? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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our school was devestated early this year when a 17 year old grade 12 student with TS+ committed suicide. It was mostly due to the fact that this young man had sufferred the torment of relentless bullying all through the school years. Yes, bullying has always been present, but it seems that unfortunately more youth are turning to suicide as a way out. I wonder if those who bullied this young man feel any remorse at all at having a huge impact on his decision. I feel the school system is not equipped to handle these situations. It does not seem right to me that the young man who was bullied is sent to councelling and is asked to come to school early and leave early. Why should anyone have to change their life in order not to be bullied, especially when these bullies are in school at regular times still getting an education? Obviously it did not solve anything anyway, as this young man was also being bullied through the cyber airwaves. A group of his peers at the school have started a committee of sorts to bring awareness to the community of this problem. They are wearing yellow t-shirts that state “stop bullying” on the front, and “RIP Chris” on the back. It has been in the media and in newspapers so hopefully some good may come of this to prevent another tragedy.
Kudos to Jaylen who is a super brave young man trying to get the word out on this terrible “blight” against humanity.
best of luck.