Bullying is HIP and COOL, Right?

I could scream right now.

I recently overheard writers talking about BULLYING being a HOT TOPIC.  Like it is the HIP, COOL thing to write about.  Like maybe it was IN STYLE.  UGH!

Go on YouTube.  Go.  Look at the hundreds of videos made by kids who are bullied.  Read their comments.  My little daughter has her own LPS channel.  Oh, and on a side note--Hasbro, bring back the old LPS!  Anyway, we like to watch other LPS channels' videos.  One video she was watching this morning was absolutely heart-breaking!  It's all about this girl who is being made fun of and thinks of hurting herself because of it.  And the comments written... just go.  Read them.  One girl talks about having a knife in her bed and cutting herself.  She says she is 10.  You can argue that these are fake accounts and not really kids but WHAT IF THEY ARE?  And I happen to think they are.  

Bullying is a behavior, but it's become a label.  And like all labels, it's lazy.  We use labels to keep us from having to THINK.  If you think bullying isn't a problem for the kid who is bullying as well as the kid who is being bullied, then I suggest you read my book, Tutu Tough.  

I feel passionately about this subject, because I feel passionately about kids.  Rachel Simmons, who wrote Odd Girl Out says, "Being a child isn't practice for life, it IS life."  Until we adults figure that out, we will never be able to help kids on both sides of the bullying coin.