By Elaine Wilson, AFPS
Aug. 19, 2009

My 5-year-old son came home from school in tears one day because a boy in his class had been calling him names. My first impulse was to tell him to call the boy names back. Not the most mature or effective approach, I’m sure, but I was at a loss. I’d never confronted this type of issue as a mom.

The incident hurt his feelings, but it could have been much worse. Each school year, horrific stories appear in the news: kids are beaten up on school buses or in hallways, and, in the worst cases, some are beaten to death.

Bullying is a pervasive issue. According to a Military OneSource fact sheet, an estimated 160,000 children miss school every day out of fear or intimidation by other students. Bullied children may suffer from depression, loneliness, low self-esteem or fear of going to school.
Read the rest of this entry »