Pink Shirt Day began five years ago when two teenage boys from Nova Scotia organized a synchronized pink day to support a boy who had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt.
Bullying is a major problem in our schools, workplaces, homes, and over the Internet.
Some of the signs a child is being bullied include loss of appetite, bed-wetting, loss of self esteem, sudden aggression or attitude change, and unexplained broken belongings and bruises. If left unaddressed, a bullying victim can be subject to failure in school, depression and thoughts of suicide.
Statistics from Bullying Canada state that one out of every five kids is a bully, and one out of four kids are being bullied.
Approximately 282,000 high school students are attacked each month nationally, the statistics say.
According to a new survey by Harris-Decima, 50 per cent of adults polled said they were bullied as a child or teen. Furthermore, a third of those said they believed the abuse they suffered caused lasting harm.
Part of the solution lies in empowering students to be proactive bystanders, Stuart said.
“Often, a bystander won’t say or do anything because it’s the cool kids that are doing the bullying, and often the person being bullied is not strong enough or too scared to,” she said. “Prevention starts first with education, and awareness, but in the bigger picture, it is us as adults that have to follow through with consequences for children.”
PLEASE WEAR PINK
AND
SPREAD THE WORD.
~Bonnie~
