Rumors: The Weapon of Choice

It is shocking what is going on in our elementary schools and junior high schools. Our children are in a total frenzy over RUMORS. They love ‘em! Girls and boys are all too eager to discover a child’s secret and spread it around the playground, especially if it divulges a child's crush. Often, it is to the detriment of the intended victim.

Rumors are the weapon of choice for bullies. They spread lies around school to destroy their victims. My own daughter has been the victim of rumors spread around her school by her bully. It is hard to prove who started the rumors and the bullies minions do not tell for fear of retaliation by the bully.

I have been wracking my brain for the past year for an answer to how to stop rumors. I have concluded that just as PARENTS are the answer to stopping the bullying, they are also the key to stopping RUMORS.

How do we stop the rumors? We simply communicate with our children. We ask them if they are hearing rumors at school. We discuss what they have heard. We ask our children if they have been targeted by rumors. If they have completed the third grade, they have most likely been the butt of some kind of rumor.

Lastly, we educate our children! We need to teach our children at home that spreading RUMORS is NOT OKAY! They need to be told that RUMORS are lies and not to be believed. They need to be told that some one spreads lies to hurt some one else and that it is bullying. If a RUMOR is about them, they need to go discuss it with their teacher. And teachers need to be open to receiving reports of RUMORS and handle them according to school policy and NOT treat the report as “tattling”. RUMORS are intended to hurt the target always.

I am so fed up with the rumors going around my kid’s junior high that I am going in to speak with the principal about it as soon as I can schedule an appointment with her. If you are aware of RUMORS going around your child’s school, I encourage you to do the same. PARENTS ARE THE ANSWER TO STOP BULLYING.