Jeff Kinney

and on the car ride home, we discussed how her friend
may be feeling with a new baby in their home. She had
been through the same feelings only a few months
before. We talked about how she felt when her sister
was born and what she liked about it. She loved the
idea of being a big sister. So rather than run home in
a fury looking for a new preschool, my daughter and
I stopped at the craft store and bought a t-shirt and
some fabric paint and made her friend a “I’m the big
sister shirt,” complete with stick figures of her and her
new baby sibling.
We tend to talk about bullies as these evil little
monsters that creep up and destroy a child’s sense
of safety. We relish shows like Bully Beat-Down. I’m
not quite sure if it’s the therapist in me or simply
the mother in me, but there seems to be little to no
empathy for the “bully.” But in my line of work, every
troubled child is a victim, and though they may exist,
I’ve never met a child who woke up one morning and
decided, “Today, I am going to be a bully.”
“What we really need to
arm our children with
is empathy.”
I am sure you’ve noticed, there is a rise in the number
of reported bullying incidents from Pre-k through
elementary school. In response, as expected, there
have been hundreds of campaigns targeted at arming
children with self-defense tactics to thwart off these
destroyers of positive self-esteem. Empowering
children with self-defense is imperative, and by no
means do I want to minimize it. However, what we
really need to arm our children with is empathy. •
StoryMonstersInk.com | NOVEMBER 2015 | Story Monsters Ink 21