Bullying, Part II

Here's a link to the outstanding New York Times review of the film Bully.

As a father, I find myself terrified of the possibility that my son might be bullied.  

Bullying

Bullying statistics:

* 13 million children are bullied everyday

* 3 million of those are absent from class each month because they feel unsafe in their own schools.

I sometimes wonder if bullying is nature or nurture.  I remember being in elementary school in Michigan, taking the bus home, and having children take my mittens and bury in them in the snow after I got off the bus.  If I knew then what I know now, I feel things would have been so different!

A new movie out called "Bully" opens on March 30.  This documentary focuses on the problem of bullying through the eyes of children.  The Ellen show today featured a couple, David and Tina Long, whose son, Tyler, committed suicide in 2009, after being subjected to years of bullying.  Through the interview, I learned Tyler had Aspergers.  What really hit me was Tyler's mother's statement, "If we love him enough, that will be enough...."   

I have a preschool son, and I can understand the unending and overwhelming love a parent has for a child.  When my child is hurt, saddened, or disappointed, it is physically painful.  Plus, even in the preschool years, I already see children being mean to each other, leaving each other out, name calling.  

Ellen asks, "Why is the world filled with hateful people? God created all of us for a reason." I think this topic is close to Ellen's heart, as she has been targeted by hateful people for her life choices.  She shared that in this past month three children committed suicide, due to bullying,  

Ellen's website includes a set of resources called United Against Bullying.  Check it out.  How can we change these statistics?  As a parent, the thought of young people feeling suicide is the only answer is devastating.  

Do only boys bully?  Last week, during a playtime after my son's class ended, two girls were playing and didn't want my son to play with them.  My son was visibly hurt.  The girls were dressed as princesses.  My son had dressed up as a knight.  One girl's dad talked to his daughter and explained to her that my son could be part of the game, and helped her be kinder.  I felt so grateful to see a parent helping their child to make kind, inclusive choices.  Parents do make a difference in how their children treat each other.  I saw that today.  

Movie- "Bully"

http://thebullyproject.com/

Great Toys: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle, is a classic children's book dating back to 1969.  The title pretty much sums up the story.  I've been reading this book at bedtime (not every night, but occasionally) to our four-year-old for roughly 3 1/2 years now.

Over the holidays, a friend gave our son the "Very Hungry Caterpillar Game."  It is a very simple board game.  You spin a wheel and move your caterpillar, which is basically a little box, around the board.  Certain spots on the board require you to wait and consume quantities of fruits, picnic snacks, and leaves.  Other spots require you to wait to spin a "moon" on the wheel before moving forward.  Ultimately, the game piece reaches a cocoon, where the player must spin a "sun" in order to move forward and become a butterfly.

All in all, it is a great first board game for a toddler.

Great Toys: The Etch-A-Sketch

If the Ohio Art Company was public, I'd buy stock in it after today.


Ohio Art Company makes the Etch-A-Sketch.  Some ill-advised comments from one of Mitt Romney's campaign advisors today said:


Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.


Not a good move for the Romney campaign.  References comparing Romney to the Etch-A-Sketch are now all over the Internet.


So, I thought I'd take this opportunity to extol the virtues of the Etch-A-Sketch.  This was one of my favorite toys as a kid.  I'm not sure I'd recommend it for toddlers; it is sometimes frustrating for kids under age 7 to draw what they really want to draw with it.  For toddlers, a simple magnetic "magic" writing board is better.  But for older kids, I think Etch-A-Sketch remains an enduring classic.  


I think we'll see a surge in the popularity of the Etch-A-Sketch in the coming months -- as both a political narrative and as a great toy!
  

Toddlers and iPads

Toddlers love iPads.  The big question -- is that a good thing?  I love technology and gadgets, but I'm starting to think the answer is no.  

A few months ago, I downloaded a copy of the PBS Kids app for the iPad.  My son loved it.  The app seemed to aggregate a large number of PBS shows for kids.  Lots of videos.  Not something we used frequently.  But it was sometimes a nice diversion.  And it was PBS, right?  Who can argue with watching a few minutes Sid the Science Kid?

After tinkering with the app for a short time, however, it became clear that this was not a way to watch entire episodes.  It literally was just a few minutes of various episodes of various shows.  Watching the app for any extended length of time -- even just 10 minutes -- meant that you were watching segments of maybe 2-3 different episodes of a show.  Totally disjointed.