As a mom of two young boys, I spend a lot of time having the same conversations over and over again.
“That noise/word/song/saying is inappropriate.”
“Stop fighting.”
“You need to respect his space and move back.”
“How can you be hungry again? I just fed you.”
“Stop fighting.”
I’m used to it. Heck, at this point, I could probably break up a conflict in my sleep. But at the beginning of this school year, another topic of conversation weaved its way into our daily lives: bullying.
“I have no friends,” my seven-year old lamented. “No one wants to play with me at recess.”
The thought of my little guy – or any child for that matter – sitting alone at recess… well, it just breaks my heart. Especially for Reid, who was a popular, friendly kid – I just couldn’t understand what had changed.
After sitting down and chatting with Reid, and then chatting with his teacher, I learned that his friends were playing a hurtful game of “exclusion” – where they ignored one child for a few days, then ignored another. The child who was cast aside was not allowed to play with the “clique” of friends until they decided it was allowed again.
Reid had been a willing participant in the game, but didn’t see the consequences of his actions until he was the one ostracized from his friends. And even though it saddened me to realize that games like this exist – even among seven-year olds – it provided an excellent teaching moment for me, and a chance to have an open discussion with both my boys about bullying, inclusion and kindness.
Our goal is always, always to spread kindness.
This year, I’m pleased to share that Planet Fitness, the innovative health club franchise known for its Judgement Free Zone and affordable prices, has once again partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada to help address bullying among youth .
From October 2 through October 13, Planet Fitness is inviting Canadians to join for a $5 down enrollment fee for memberships beginning as low as $10 a month. Planet Fitness and its franchisees will donate 100% of the enrollment fees to Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.
“The feeling of belonging makes a positive impact on the lives of children and youth,” says Owen Charters, President & CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. “We are pleased that Planet Fitness is partnering with our Clubs to support anti-bullying initiatives and promote self-esteem, inclusion, and empowerment for our young people.”
It’s my job to raise humans who take a stand against bullying. The lessons they learn at a young age can help guide their decisions through the teen years, when bullying occurs more frequently in Canada than 2/3 of Western countries – every 25 minutes in classrooms, on average.
For my boys, recess is a time of physical activity, fresh air and friendships – three things that should dominate the playground. I’ve used Reid’s brush with bullying to highlight the importance of promoting kindness and inclusion, especially since he now understands the impact of hurtful actions. Thankfully, he has a great role model in his older brother, Ryder.
(Yeah, that’s the kid who won the “Virtue of Kindness” Award three years in a row. Couldn’t be more proud of this sweet nine-year old.)
Are you looking to make a change for the better? Planet Fitness has been a proud champion of encouraging people to be “judgement free,” inviting members to come work out as they are, without fear of being criticized or judged. Between October 2 and October 13, the $5 down from every new membership will support programs to prevent bullying and promote a culture of kindness through Planet Fitness’ philanthropic initiative The Judgement Free Generation™. Existing members are also welcome to make an in-club donation to the cause during that timeframe.
I know that our recent experience with bullying won’t be our last. But I also know that the easiest way to fight bullying is to spread kindness… and that’s the newest topic of conversation in our household.
For more information, visit www.planetfitness.ca.
This post is sponsored by Planet Fitness. The opinions on this blog, as always, are my own.
What a wonderful post,i love the way you are teaching your children to be compassionate to others and getting the word out that we each need to be working at this daily with our children\grandchildren.Bullying has to stop we are losing too many young people.
This post if so great! There can never be enough information and guidance about bullying for parents, caregivers, teachers, etc. This seems to be becoming a more prominent thing these days in all aspects of life. The more we education all children and adults the more kindness we can hope to see spread.
Kids can be so mean! It’s so important to teach your kids to be kind and good for you for raising your boys well. They will grow into kind men too. :)
Thank you for the wonderful post. Now more than ever, especially with Social Media, bullying has gone to an even worse extreme.
Bullying seems so much worse than back in my day.
Yes to spreading kindness.
Wow, I am shocked that kids at such an early age play so mean.
This is a great post. Bullying definitely has to stop. I’m all for spreading kindness and compassion. It’s good that you are teaching your boys good values early on in life.
Great post , Kids are so mean , its unreal , thanks for sharing !
Such an important topic, always nice to see companies trying to help with this issue. Pretty sad though that there are games being played like Reid experience :(
Bullying is a terribly common thing in our world. It’s great to know that there are programs out there trying to tackle this issue.
Awesome post. Bullying is such a horrible thing. I wish everyone would just be kind to one another!
One of my daughters was bullied at school, what shocked me the most was when the teacher told me that she’d talked to the parents and they didn’t seem to care! Bullying is vile and has to be stamped out wherever it is found. Reid’s case is also disturbing since these kids are so very young. The positive aspect of it is that he knows what it’s like to be on the wrong end of bullying and I’m sure he’ll do all he can for others who find themselves being bullied.
What a wonderful post! Thank you for writing this.
Kindness is so important. It is so sad when children bully others. But we see adults bully other adults so unfortunately many little bullies grow up and do it all their lives.
I love this simple theme: “Our goal is always, always to spread kindness”
Reid looks so forlorn in the first photo, I feel he needs a hug. :-(
I hadn’t heard about this exclusion game. My heart goes out to kids growing up today
awe this post just warmed my heart on a topic that unfortunately is so common on school playgrounds and in any child social setting. My girls are 5 and 3 and you betcha i will be having this conversation with them and ensuring they know to always spread kindness and positivity. Bullying is always something I am worried about with my oldest as she is autistic and i know some kids just dont get it, dont understand it so its something i am not always thinking about but its there
I found this post on bullying very informative & interesting. When we saw a new bench installed at our grandson’s school last year, we asked him about it. He explained that it’s a “buddy bench” and if you see a child sitting on it, the students are supposed to go over & ask them to play with them.
What a horrible game! Who would come up with such a mean idea? I am so glad that your son felt that he could talk to you about this and a stop could be put to it.
Honestly we need much information and guidance so we can help those who bully others and it starts at home !
This was great to read and I certainly agree that it was a great teaching moment for you. I think more than ever we need to be focusing on teaching the importance of inclusion for everyone.
There’s a girl in my daughter’s class that wear a Hijab. A couple of weeks ago my daughter noticed this girl was being bullied.. not picked on… literally bullied. My daughter (she is 11) rounded up 2 friends and went and did an intervention. My daughter came home very very upset by the way this girl was treated from a class mate that apparently isn’t nice to everyone anyways.
In the end, we had a long talk and my daughter came to the conclusion (with help of course) that it was best to notify the principal. The girl in question was pulled from class, sent home.. I’m sure more steps were taken that we were not informed of.
Can’t express how proud we were of our daughter.
Bullying is at it’s worse extreme it seems,here at a local School a child got swarmed and was kicked and beaten by 3 bullies,honestly I think bullies should be removed from the School system.
Spread kindness, forgive & let’s make the world better place to live!
We need more kindness and compassion in the World,we can teach out kids at home to love each other,but they see so much on social media,School and even the elections,adults bullying each other…..honestly some adults need to stop the bullying,you are such a bad example for the youth of today!
It is so important for kids to have great role models – glad to hear Ryder is an awesome one to his little brother!