I want to tell you how it feels to be the mom of a bullied kid.

I want to tell you how it feels when your heart breaks as your beautiful child looks up at you and asks, “Mom, what’s wrong with me? Why doesn’t anyone like me?”

I want to tell you how it feels when your daughter looks at you with tears in her eyes and says, “The girls only want to be my friend to use me and to make fun of me.”

I want to tell you how it feels at morning school drop off, praying, “Please, God, let her have had a good day,” and knowing the answer two steps after she gets picked up from school that very same day.¨

I want to tell you how you can cringe every time the phone rings during a school day and how you hope it’s not the school calling with a sick kid, a guidance counselor or some other problem.

I want to tell you the horror of walking in on your 9-year-old daughter crying her eyes out and screaming she no longer wants to be on this earth, because other girls have convinced her that she is worthless, and the world would be better off without her.

I want to tell you about sitting up, night after night with your child, holding her hand to both let her know that you are there and make sure she finally falls asleep to wake up again the next day to deal with the same kids who continue to harass and bully her.

I want to tell you about searching for age-appropriate long-sleeved clothing for her beautiful long limbs that those same girls continue to make fun off and call her a dead walking skeleton.

I want to tell you about how hard it is to get help from the very school you reported your daughter´s bullying and they neglected to guide you in options for your child´s rights to excel academically within her own school district.

I want to tell you about my own madness of going back in forth with people telling you to just get over it, that kids will be kids and questioning yourself, ¨Am I overacting here?¨

But what I really want to tell you is to please, please, please teach your children to be kind. Teach them that while they don’t have to be friends with everyone, they should be civil and empathic. Teach them to respect people who are different, and that if they don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything at all. Show them by example.  Our children are a reflection of what they see and hear.

I want to tell you to thank your lucky stars that it’s not your kid, but your kid could be next. I also want you to know that we can help end bullying by teaching our kids to be brave and stand up for one another. And finally, I want to tell you, I will do whatever it takes as a mother to make sure my daughter knows she is loved and cared for, that she is a beautiful human being inside and out, and deserves respect and love just like everyone else.

• From a mom of a bullied child

For resources and guidance on how to help your bullied child please click here

If you are a parent in Miami-Dade or Broward county school districts needing guidance on how to stop bullying within your child´s school district and/ or your child´s options in finding a safe academic environment contact Ms. Thalya Olmos here

https://www.fldoe.org/safe-schools/bullying-prevention.stml

bullying in Florida school district, Florida Department of Education, Stop bullying