The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

I find bullying a serious problem that we need to address in our schools and community. Nowadays we have the Internet, cellphones, tablets, and social networking. This can be a serious problem for even the most trustworthy of children, making it easier to post things that we do not mean. Unknowingly to some parents, children may be cyber bullied, and socially harmed, due to the fact that they did not report the incidents immediately, because anything you put into cyberspace cannot be removed permanently.

There are other types of bullying, which are never addressed to the public, such as toxic friendships, e.g. person A tells person B that they cannot be friends with person C, who is a good friend, but person B lacks courage to do the right thing and is scared that if they make the right choice person A will punish them. Nowadays people forget to teach their children tact and compassion, so it is up to us to teach those values to our children, hence making the world a better place.

When a kid loses a friend due to the fact that that friend succumbed to another, it shows a lack of tact and compassion, making the targeted child feel devastated, scarred, betrayed, and isolated from others.

A recent study shows that nowadays bullies are usually of high intellect or popularity, and do not feel powerless alone. These bullies lack in tact and compassion. This is sometimes caused by family dilemmas, being an only child, but they could also come from nurturing families, proving the fact that bullies can come from any family.

Parents, do not assume that your child cannot be a bully; any child can be a bully.

Competitiveness seems to be very important in our society, but do not forget to teach your children tact, tolerance and compassion.

Our schools have bullying regulations, but do not seem to enforce them much for verbal bullying. This is the most common form of bullying, causing children to succumb to peers.

To kids who have succumbed to others: trust your gut and leave that “frenemy” behind. If you were ‘’forced’’ to leave a friend, apologize and do everything in your power to fix up that friendship. Remember, no person can force you to do anything that you regret, and if you know that your friend is a bully to others, that friend is not a good friend or influence at all.

A middle school student

(name withheld by request)