Goodnight everyone. I hope that your day went well, and that everyone has arrived home safely for the evening.

Tonight I want to talk about bullying, one of the worst epidemics taking place amongst our children to date. Bullying is a vicious and poisonous act. It can destroy a child’s confidence and it can have lasting traumatic effects throughout their life. As many of you know, bullying can be subtle but it can also be very severe. Any way that you look at it,  bullying scars the spirit of an innocent child.

Recognizing that your child is being bullied is not always easy either. Victims can become very withdrawn and very depressed. When being bullied,  it can be so difficult for a child to see any way out. Many times they are even too ashamed to discuss it with their own parents.
Bullying can strip a child’s self esteem away, and it can silence them. It can make them afraid to go to school at all. In today’s times, it has also gone beyond the schoolyard, now that cyber bullying has been introduced. The level that this bullying has come to, is truly incomprehensible. In very severe cases, tragedy has ensued and some victims have taken their own lives because of it.  We have also seen incidents in the news, of former bullying victims taking the lives of others, as well as there own.

The seriousness of Bullying has become more recognized and many school administrations throughout the country have implemented a ” No Bullying ” policy. Still it doesn’t seem to be enough yet.  More needs to be done to stop this. We cannot allow this to continue happening to our children. This is why we must get involved. If you see a child being bullied, or if you see that your child is bullying someone, get involved. There must be consequences for bullies to deter them from repeating this. If they know that they have been identified, and that they are being watched, they may think twice.  Once the bully is confronted by the administration as well as the parents, if the behavior continues, it is my opinion that the bully should be expelled from the school completely. The rights of the innocent victim need to be protected.

The beautiful little girl you see in this picture , is an angel named Katie. She is a very sweet and very loving child that lights up the lives of Her Great Aunt, Kathy Tracy and her Mother Brandy. She touches the lives of everyone that knows her with her kindness. Katie is also Autistic. Her Great Aunt Kathy is a very beloved friend of our Everybody Loves Sammy community. Kathy and Katie’s Mother Brandy have seen the effect that bullying has had on Katie this last year that she was in the 5th grade. It has been devastating. Katie was repeatedly bullied and even hit in the face by another student at her school. This is completely unacceptable. As the mother of a special needs child myself, Katie’s story really hits home for me. It hurts so much to imagine this sweet girl suffering in any way. My heart goes out to the whole family.

The situation at Katie’s school seems to have calmed down because of the involvement of her loving and supportive family, along with the school. This is a family that saw what was happening at school and spoke up right away. We want to send them our full support. We hope and pray with them that things are peaceful for Katie this coming school year, and that the children there will show more understanding and compassion for others.

Kathy Tracy shared this with us tonight because she wants to help with any parent or child who is going through this. She wanted to send a message to all to make everyone more aware that these things are still happening,  and to say how much we need to teach our children to be more loving, tolerant and understanding of others. To treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves. We thank her for Katie’s Story.

Stay as sweet as you are Katie, and don’t let anyone get you down. You are beautiful just as you are.

With love ,
From
Jessica Lee Smith,
For Sammy & Family