Headlines throughout the country echoed a story last week that has become all too common in our society, as yet another teenager took their own life largely due to bullying.
The increase in attention to suicides due to the effects of bullying has contributed to a dialogue that for decades has raged on how to best deal with the behavior in order to protect children.
It is a dialogue however that has boiled down to little more than a blame game between parents and school officials over what has increasingly become a societal issue, all while ignoring just how important it is to deal with the behavior at as young of an age as possible.
Studies and reports from mental health experts, including one published in Child Development, that was supported by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health over a two year period, have found that bullying at an early age can create what the study called “chronic victims.”
These children go on to become bullied physically, verbally and mentally throughout their lives. What these studies do not address however are the results of such chronic situations.
The high profile suicides that we have seen over the past few years mainly involved children who were bullied over an extended period of time. The reasons they were bullied ranged from race to sexual orientation to physical characteristics.
“Chronic victims” of bullying are the ones taking their own lives, taking the lives of others or growing up with psychological issues that will plague them for the rest of their lives.
If we understand just how important it is to deal with bullying at a young age in order to stop this vicious cycle from occurring throughout a child’s life, why have we seemingly done so little to actually stem the tide of bullying?
The answer lies in yet another vicious cycle that exists between school officials and parents who focus more on who or what to blame.
The answer is rather simple, because both sides are to blame.
If parents do not address behavioral issues at home, get involved in their children’s lives more and work with school officials, bullying will continue unchecked regardless of the effort by any school.
If school officials do not provide an environment in which bullying is not tolerated, where children’s education extends to social interaction as well and a willingness to work with parents is clear, especially when parents report their child is being bullied, then no amount of effort by parents can stem the tide of bullying.
The only solutions that will work must have support from all sides to ensure bullying diminishes in our society and generations of children can avoid ever becoming “chronic victims.”
If blame is really that important to both sides of the issue, perhaps they can take comfort in knowing that equal blame can be given for lives lost to inaction.
We, the editors of The Pioneer, will wholeheartedly stand behind that statement because the bickering of parents and school officials over who is to blame for bullying, rather than working together to fix the problem, can cost children’s lives.
The longer both sides put their pride before the issue at hand, the more children we lose to the effects of bullying.
And the clock is ticking now more loudly than ever.