It happened in Elementary school. The girls picked on me because i was not pretty, had braces, and was the Teachers Pet. I was friends with some girls and they were jealous of me so they called me names and spread rumors about me. They made me cry all the time however I never stood up for myself and believed all the lies they told me. I had- had enough from crying and feeling scared of them. I went to the teachers and I went to the Assistant principal. Mr. Lad- i will never forget his name. He spoke to the girls and talked about the consequences of bullying. I was able to solve and stand up to my problem all by myself. I was so proud of myself. I then moved to another Elementary school and a new face of bullying began, this time I was ready to stand up to it. I told the principal and told the girl how she made me feel. she stopped bullying me and became my friend. I have learned to be a survivor of bullying and to face my fear. I now work to help others face their own with my help as an advocate. We are all people and we all have feelings.  

Umm..to start off i should really say a few things about me. My name is seita, i'm 15 years old and I live in England. I'm about average in pretty much everything, looks,weight,height. I was never bothered about how I looked when I was a little younger. Whilst most girls would spend their time trying to look pretty and apply make up correctly. I spent my time drawing anime and writing fanfictions. I also did quite a lot of roleplay on facebooks in little groups with people i'd met over the internet. However because I was deemed as 'different' by everyone else because I didn't like the same things they did they thought that was a good enough reason to start picking on me. At first it was only small comments and remarks that I could easily brush off withought caring at all but after a few months they comments got harsher and harsher, they started to steal all my stuff, draw over my books and write awful things all over pretty much anything I owned. I did have quite a few friends at the time but when it came to the subject of bullying they didn't seem to care, they only stood by and watched. Halfway through my 3rd year of highschool I decided to get my hair cut short. Basically because I couldn't be bothered to mess about with my extremely long hair at the time. So the next day I have in to school with all my hair chopped off and the first thing someone said to me was 'you look like a lesbain' and for a about 5 months more and more rumors spread about me being a lesbain. People would whisper it as a walked by or shouted it out if I was near. But guess what? No one even tried to help or stand up to them so I had to do it myself. The worse thing was at the time, i'm actually bisexual so if I told them that then they would bully me more so I kept it a secret until this year, I told my so called 'best friend' that I was Bi and asked her not to tell anyone. However when I got to school afterwards everyone knew, she'd told them everything. People were laughing and mocking me, saying they knew it all along. I got so upset I hid in the girls toilets pretty much all day. On the way home I was stopped by a few kids in my year and they started pushing me about until I lost it and tackled one of them to the floor, punching him as hard as I could. I got pulled off by his friends and heard the sound of snipping, I had grown my hair so it had reached my shoulders over the past year and now they'd just cut it all off again, saying that if I was Bi I should at least look like one. This happened around a month ago and its still happening now, they won't drop it and I really don't know what to do. I've tried cutting my wrists and hanging a few times but I always get to scared last minute. I really don't know what to do anymore...I'm just that outcast that no one really cares about, a freak

I was 11 when I moved and joined a new school, my brother had been there a year already, he was a rebel and caused a lot of problems, I was a very shy 11 year old unlike him so everyone thought I was an easy target, it started with name calling and horrible looks, it gradually got worse to the point that i was self harming, starving myself and so close to losing control of myself all because of what they were doing, after 4 weeks of constant abuse I was eventually taken out of the school to re-build what was left of me, when I went back to the same school they tried to go back to the way it was but by this time I had forced my way out of the shadow I was stuck in and became a new person, I gradually started to build up the confidence that i knew was inside me all along and started to stand out, I was unique, stopped letting people drag me down and proved that I was stronger than them. I know that if that didn't happen to me i would never be as strong as I am now, no matter where I am, who I am with I will always be myself and never any different, no 11 year old should have to suffer the way I did and the way many others have done and still do. If anybody that reads this is currently enduring the torture of bullies, speak out about it don't let it eat away at you until there is nothing left, talk to someone whether it be your mum, dad, siblings or even a teacher, sometimes it takes a lot for them to truly see whats going on, but keep pushing don't let them ignore whats happening, you don't deserve it one bit. Keep believing that you can beat whats happening and be a better person than them! 

Stay Strong...

Hi guys, I'm Danielle, I'm 16 years old in high school. When I was in middle school I dealt with bullies for 3 years. Everyday I would get picked on, and made fun, and laughed at. I never had any friends, and sometimes people would just make me feel like I had friends which never helped me at all. Even though I was being picked on everyday, I walked through the school halls pretending that nothing was wrong and that I was perfectly fine, but on the inside I was pretty much dying inside. Ever since I started high school I'm not being bullied anymore and I'm accepted for who I am because its how God created me.

A typical high school in the mid-west! A very good friend of ours son, goes to school every day knowing he will be humiliated, called names, endure physical abuse; being pushed, shoved & punched because he's a little different! What the other teens don't know about him is that he was born 3 months pre-mature and is lucky to be alive! He's a miracle!  

A few weeks ago, 3 students decided to hold him and another student down and stab them with pencils! The other student was taken to the Dr because part of the led was actual stuck in his skin and had to be removed by a physician! 

When is this going to stop? When are our children going to feel safe in our schools? Suspension is just a band aide!   

My earliest memory of bullying was in kindergarten when I was 6. I was on the playground about to go down the slide when a girl the same age as me pushed me out of the way and said to me "pretty girls go first".

When I was 7 a group of girls thought it would be fun to pretend to be my friend then get me to tell them my secrets while recorded it then the put as a video message on the school notices which were projected every day on a white screen in the hall.

When I was eight I went to live with my dad for a year in different country and so moved schools and after 4 weeks a girl punched me in the playground of our school because 'I was too nice and she didn't like me.' when I tried to get up she pushed me back down against a tree and swung again this time missing and hitting the tree because I ducked. What I had not known was that a teacher had been watching the whole time. She then came over, grabbed me by the hand and took me to the principles office not even asking if I was ok or noticing a bruise beginning to form on my right cheek and on the side of my nose as well as a cut that is now a scar on my face from the flower ring she wore. I was the one who got in trouble.

When I was 9 I moved to a new school and a new country again and became the new girl, the outsider.

When I was 10 some girls wrote some quite horrible stuff about me on a wall behind the tuckshop/canteen.

When I was 11 I hated my self because I thought 'if people don't like me then it must be because of me.' It was then I shut out the world. My one beacon of light was my best friend.

When I was 12 my best friend started ignoring me, she ran away when I came near, she would sit somewhere different everyday so I couldn't sit with her, she spread nasty rumors around the school about me and she talked about me behind my back. One day her and a group of other girls threw rocks at me when I was walking home from school.

When I was 13 I started high school thinking that I would leave behind the bullies but instead they followed me and called me names as well as filling my bag with dirt and a note saying "dirt is what you are so dirt is what you get". When I was thirteen I tried to commit suicide. It was when I was 13 that I got face book and instantly got 30 friend request from different people which made me think and realise 'maybe it is not me that is the problem.'

When I was 14 I started a new school again and after 5 weeks a roomer went around school about me having no money and always wearing the same clothes.  

When I turned fifteen, I left. I started home school and came to Canada for three months with my dad to just get away from everything. It was then I realised that through it all one good friend has stuck by me. And because of that I am lucky.

I have been bullied at each and every one of the 4 schools I have gone too in my 15 short years. I have been both verbally and physically abused. And when asked why their only reason was "because it's easy". I have been bullied because people see me as an easy target. They see me, the shy polite girl in the corner and they think "oh she looks pathetic and easy, lets go and pick on her for fun." I would like to say that the bullying has made me a stronger person but it hasn't. In fact it is still happening now outside of school as I have been forced to go to another school yet again, my fifth, this time home school. That way I'm safe, that way I don't have to wake up every morning dreading school, dreading the hurtful words that would hit me that day. 

Something you should also know about me is that for about the past 3 years I have lived with something that has no official name. Imagine the worst headache/migraine you have ever had then times that by around 5 and picture having that same pain in your head every day all day. This has been called lots of names, like me. Names like, a migraine, a headache, something your mind made up, and your bodies way of telling you that you shouldn't be here. So I decided that I would name my self. A name that felt true to me so I called it 'my pain' or 'Mr grumpy' who is this type of evil who follows me around every second of every day and makes my life a misery. Just like bullying. Bullying is pain that has no cure except to stop it at the source. Now every day that I went to school I had to deal with both pains. I had to deal with a constant pain in my head and in my heart.

But that is not what made me depressed, what made me try to kill myself. What did it was that it felt like no one was there. No one stood up for me. Not even the people I called my friends. I felt alone, isolated and totally unhappy and cut off from the world. If you are reading this and can relate to at least part of it then know, you are not alone, you are not isolated there are people out there every day dealing with the same stuff as you are.

My name is layla, I am living with constant bullying but I know I am not alone. I know that I have support and that I can and will get through this.

I have been bullied since the day I started kindergarten. My parents gave me up to my aunt and uncle cause they couldnt take care of me themselves. They were drug addicts and alcoholics. The kids at school found out this information and called me the crack baby and made me feel terrible every day of my life for that. I am also bisexual. I lost so many friends due to it. They would write faggot on my locker and push me and tell me gays shouldn't exist. It got so bad i started to self harm. People have also made a hate page of me on instagram. People would do so many things to me and make me feel worthless and like I was alone. I also come from a homophobic community. Which makes it hard for me to go out in public. Me also liking metal music so they would call me emo and fag stupid ugly too gay to live. I am also bigger then the other kids and would call me fat. That made me very depressed and self conscious. I cant post pictures wear short sleves or anything. I cant help but cry myself to sleep at night and think why why am I still here but im here because im trying to make the change of life where people arent bullied and who accept themselves and are ok with who they are because they should be. Thats my goal to make a change. Thats why im here. To change this terrible thing we call our world. I am now speaking on day of pink to tell the kids at my school on what they put me through and make sure they dont do it to anyone else in the future. I am also doing things in my school to raise awareness against lgbt bullys and regular bullies.

I had a pretty normal early childhood, for growing up in the 60's, in a small city in the "Live Free or Die" State of New Hampshire. I was the Great Grandson of Italian and French immigrants that came here in search of a better life. I came from a perfect family of four children, two boys and two girls and Mom & Dad and wearing home made tweed long jacket and cap that my Grandmother made from old clothes. When i turned 14, old enough to go to church, my mother and dad would take us, and we sat way back in the third seat in. I was a fairly good looking kid, and i guess my ministers son thought he had a right to sexually abuse me regularly in the downstairs vestry during church services. As i got older, the abuse only got worse. All through grammar school, right into Jr. High School the kids started taunting me and calling me names like "Homo, Queer, Ck.Sr." among other really hurtful and mentally scarring words" and it just got worse. It progressed into physical abuse throughout the years, Punching, Kicking, Name Calling and sometimes all three. When i would go to football games, the kids would stalk me. They'd come up to me, and one kid would get down on his hands and knee's behind me, and the one in front would push me over and i'd hit the ground hard. This happened over and over, and no one ever said a word, not even the adults nearby. I guess they thought it was funny too. In High School it was the same thing all over again, the same bunch that had taunted me for years were there too! Thank goddess for the few friends i did have, to keep me somewhat occupied with life as much as they could, but for many years i found my solace in the woods with fairy folk and their world. Or self punishing behavior because i thought at times it was all my fault, i brought it upon myself because of the way i acted. But again, my close friends made me realize before i graduated high school that it was me who i was acting like, the only one i needed to impress was myself! And i was a kind, caring, sentimental, selfless person that everyone should enjoy being my friend. I think i never would have survived without them, they were my rock, and i knew i could go to them if i needed uplifting or a laugh. After i got out of school, it really did get better! I started to surround myself with people who did accept me for who i am, not what i did in bed. For once in my life i thought i was free of ridicule forever! Over 30+ years since i was taunted and teased and called names. A few months ago, when i was out working with my plants, two ten year old boys were playing next door. And within fifteen to twenty minutes, they started with the same old crap "Homo, Queer" but this time, they had an authority figure nearby, and when i explained to him what had happened, i never saw the kids again. I know it will never end, at least not in my lifetime, and most likely it will play a part in all the rest of our days. In little pockets, where people are still narrow minded, and no one to tell them their thinking, actions and words are no longer wanted, needed or accepted! That's my story, and i'm sticking to it!

I have a son with mild Aspergers and ADD. He was bullied for several years, schools did very little to help us and when they did, they handled it wrong.  In time, we met other children who had also been bullied.  Some were bullied because of their mixed race, some because of physical handicaps, some due to religion or appearance.  Some were bullied for just for "fun".   I was just a seething ball of anger and outrage, feeling helpless for my child and other bullied children.  I didn't know what I could do to make a difference.   Then I went to a workshop provided by the Anti Defamation League, and I learned some of the key elements to anti-bullying practices. I learned that it is important for kids to find at least one other kid (and hopefully more) who will stand up with them to the bully, and also that even though not all institutions handle bullying properly, it is still the best thing for a child that has been bullied to report the incident RIGHT AWAY to teachers or administrators.  I also learned the importance of having those who witnessed bullying to privately report the incident to the teachers/administrators, or if brave enough, to go with the bullied child to report the incident.

 

 I went home after the workshop, filled with mixed emotions.  I was still very angry about bullying, but I felt like I had also been empowered to do something.  I took the ideas presented at the ADL workshop, added some of my own feelings, wrote a song about what to do in a bullying situation, and then rounded up a bunch of kids that had been the victims of bullying, including my own, and we recorded "STOP THAT! - An Anti-Bullying Anthem"  It ended up receiving airplay on a popular kids' nightly radio show in our city, and the kids started getting attention in school.....positive attention for their efforts and talent.  It really helped to boost their self esteem, and the product of all this frustration was a song that became a blueprint for how to handle bullying.  It is based on best practices in anti-bullying, and is now being used in schools all over the U.S. and also in Brazil and the U.K.  I even took one school that performed this song to the State Capitol to sing for our State Senators and Representatives on an Anti-Bullying platform.

 

I do believe the saying by Margaret Mead that goes, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has."  Thank you Margaret for those true words of encouragement.   We found power in numbers, and with the ideas in "STOP THAT! - An Anti Bullying Anthem" we were able to get our message out......  that kids need to stick together and tell the bullies that IT'S NOT OK to bully.  When so many of your peers take a "that's not cool, that's not okay" position on bullying, it gets harder for the bully.  Data shows that by someone intervening in a bullying situation, the bullying ends (for that period of time) more often than not.    Even if a lone kid is being bullied, there can be NO BYSTANDERS.  I think early education in bullying prevention is KEY, as well as parent and teacher education in this area.  Parents and teachers need to see that their own prejudices are imprinted on children at an early age, possibly fostering bullying.     Little kids listen, even if you think they don't.  I hope all parents and teachers will feel free to watch the video of our song, "STOP THAT! - An Anti-Bullying Anthem" and show it to their kids and students, and maybe even sing along with it eventually. I put in on Youtube, and the URL is:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owD6g17ivdY       I hope everyone joins together to STAND UP TO BULLYING!!!  Thanks for listening....Annie Lynn

I've been bullied all my life but the worst bullying I have ever gotten was my softmore year of high school. I was always different to them just becAUSE I have eplespy wear dark clothing and what music I listen to. They would things in my locker that go kill yourself, emo, cutter, and woke lot of stuff. They would push me in the lockers and off the stairs. I sometimes got punched in the nose I wouldn't tell anyone. I was too scared to tell mom or anyone for that matter. I held back the tears after two years when I moved I was glad to get away. Now IM a senior in high school I know I should've said something but I was afrid it would make it worse. To those who are reading this tell someone your being bullied.