Bullying is a hot-button issue in today's society. With so many types of communication available to us — phones, email, social media — people can hide behind their screens and say horrible things to and about other individuals.
And often, this affects children and teens more than it does adults. Why? Because they're still in their most formative years, which makes them more susceptible to both being bullies and being bullied.
Bullying can have detrimental effects on everyone, especially kids and teens. But bullying doesn't just affect the one person — it affects the entire family.
One mom, Leigh Davey, recently took to Facebook with a desperate plea to other parents to watch out for bullying behaviors.
After Leigh's daughter was hospitalized for planning to commit suicide, Leigh knew it was time to reach out to other moms and dads. For the benefit of kids everywhere, bullying needs to end.
Read what Leigh had to say below.
Leigh shared her message on Facebook, where it quickly got a lot of attention.
To date, her post has over 89,000 reactions and over 46,000 shares.
Leigh wrote:
Not many of you know this, but our beautiful girl has been subjected to some awful bullying at school.
It's been a very private 7 months for us, dealing with this, immediate family only.
In this age of social media, children (because they are children) think it’s ok to send hateful messages (to me also along with their parents who won’t take responsibility) without consequences.
I've had calls from these children calling me an old hag because I've defended our daughter, approached parents and pleaded with them to talk with their children and ask them to stop. I've even approached the children themselves, but been threatened by parents with harassment.
The WA department of education don't expel children from schools for bullying as they say. "Every child is entitled to an education."
What about our child's entitlement?
She’s been sent home numerous times after self harming at school. She’s not allowed a pencil sharpener as she takes the blade out and cuts herself.
The WA department of education also told me. "You should teach your child how to be resilient against bullies." Yes, they said that.
Our girl has had a video taken of her sitting at her desk at school, legs slightly open, with a lovely caption about the smell. It was posted to snapchat.
I spent 90 mins with the police as they tried to determine if it was photographing and distribution of pornographic material. Yes, a 12 year old can be prosecuted if the content breaches certain criteria. Sadly our daughters didn't, but she was subjected to weeks of ridicule.
Repercussions? The girl who posted the video lost her playtime. The person who took the video? Nothing, because no one would tell who it was.
It's ok to verbally attack at school because they can get away with it via a screen so think the same will happen in the real world.
Last week we spent over 5 hours in A&E with psychiatrists, doctors and nurses, because our girl “had a plan to commit suicide,”and on Tuesday I am in court applying for a VRO against a 12 year old to keep her (the bully) away from our beautiful girl. All because parents don’t accept responsibility for their children and schools can only do so much.
The school has a safety plan for the bullied child, our daughter and the bully? She only loses recess and lunch privileges. This is infant school punishment!
Please, in this awful age of social media (or anti social media as we call it), check your children's messages. Their devices are a privilege, nothing more, nothing less, so please make sure they are being polite and respectful in their messages. Teach the children to "talk" not use text or social media to air their differences.
Bullying affects the whole family, not just the bullied. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now!
Since sharing the message, Leigh and her husband Carl have received a ton of support from people all over the world. They are so grateful for all the unbelievable messages they’ve gotten back.
If you think no child should ever have to deal with bullying, please SHARE this article with your friends.
