Too Late to Teach?

Could your child already be a victim of bullying?
Parents, teachers, family members, friends…this is your chance to make a difference in a child’s entire future!

The film, BULLY,  3+stars, from USA Today reviewer, Claudia Puig, was just released in theaters.

“A must-see film that’s also hard to watch.  Classrooms, cafeterias, and school buses can be places of anguish for millions of children, as powerfully demonstrated in BULLY, an insightful and moving documentary.  The film, which tells the story of 5 victims of bullying, should be required viewing for everyone ages 8-18…it wouldn’t hurt to make the documentary mandatory for parents, teachers, and school officials as well.”

According to the article: “The Motion Picture Association of America denied the filmmakers’ petition for a PG-13 rating because of concerns over profanity. “  The distributor is leaving it up to individual theaters to set admission policies.”

The MPAA had the option to contribute to the welfare of younger children by making Bully an unrated film.  Many of these unrated documentaries have done well at the box-office in the past.

Did you know all the popular profanity when you were in grammar school?  Perhaps you grew up in a family, as I did, which didn’t allow me to experience it, and it certainly wasn’t allowed on television or in theaters when I was a kid.  Is there a child alive today, over 6. who hasn’t heard and repeated the proliferance of profanity in our culture? 

Is it possible that witnessing a very real documentary about how profanity can be used to demean , control, and bully others would actually be educational for kids?

I trained with a profound teacher of attitudes who created a program to rehabilitate hardened felons in a federal prison.  He reversed the recidivism rate for most of those felons he taught.  It is a well accepted fact that the majority of hardened criminals have experienced abuse and bullying as a child.

To quote my teacher, the late Dan MacDougald, Jr:  “Words in a society are important.  A society’s words decline before the culture declines.  People commonly demean a victim with words before they inflict physical harm.  Riots are started by speeches, thieves usually belittle their victims.  Destructive or negative behavior rarely occurs unless there has first been destructive or negative speech.”  We see this demonstrated regularly in cases of domestic abuse in which verbal abuse escalates to physical abuse.

What can you do?  Make a conscious choice to get involved and take action:
*See the movie, “Bully,” with your children
*Request theaters show it to younger children
*Talk to your schools about making this film mandatory

You know it’s too late to educate and protect children at the age of 13.
Do it now!

Read the USA Today article:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/story/2012-03-30/bully-documentary/53874516/1

Tags: bullying, children, choice, Connection, Conscious Choice, get involved, priorities, Purpose, teaching, teaching children