Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Does it get better? Why wait?!?

So today I got the chance to go and listen to Dan Savage talk at the Columbus Convention Center. The afternoon was to be all about bullying and I just happen to be doing a project about bullying for one of my classes. So I went. Not really sure WHO Dan Savage is or why he'd be someone that I'd want to listen to. But Some friends encouraged me to go so I went....

So maybe you don't know who Dan Savage is either. He is the co-founder of the "It gets better project". This group created video's to help give hope to kids who were being teased about or struggling with being gay/lesbian.



Dan Savage is a great speaker! I think I'd enjoy listening to him talk about anything! He's funny, knowledgeable and passionate! Unfortunately the Columbus Teaching Community really dropped the ball on this one...there were hardly ANYONE at this presentation. (This was part of the E-tech Ohio conference for teachers and with Bullying being such a BIG problem in Schools and because of the 10+ teachers that I've talked to, None of them really feel like they know what to do when a student is being bullied! The tell the bully to stop it.... but don't really know what else to do! )

In his talk Dan, yeah I think I know him well enough to just call him Dan, talked about why Gay & Lesbian kids need a "special" out reach... what makes them so "different" or worthy of the little extra attention is this.....

If you've got a Black, Muslim, kid from the Bronx and he gets teased for his accent, the color of his skin or his religion.... it's wrong... but in most cases this kid can go home to his black, Muslim, NY accent speaking parents... and they GET it... they know what it's like to be black... because they are...they know how it feels to get teased for being Muslim... cause they are....and 9 times out of 10 they have the same NY accent.

Now if that same kid gets teased for being GAY.... he goes home to his straight parents...and they've got NOTHING... they don't know what's like to be gay.... So how can they possibly relate to what he's going thru. GLBT kids need to know that there are others out there that get it!!!
This made a great deal of sense to me!

Another thing I took from this talk was about parents, it's OUR job to teach our kids not to judge people. You & I may think we do that... but are we really... what are our church's saying.... GOD loves all people.... UNLESSSSSSSS...... What do the TV shows we watch show our kids..... Disney channel isn't really rocking alot of "diversity"..... Prime time line up.... isn't either...... How about our friends..... do we have a group of diverse people in our kids lives..... or do they all look and act and talk like we do......

Kids bully other kids because they are uncomfortable with something they see or feel towards that other child. If they are different from us..... it scares us.... that is something we need to work on with our selves.... and our kids. I don't want my kids to be bullied..... and I don't want them to Bully other kids.... I also want for my kids to be at least 5 ft 8inches tall.... and for them to have 6 figure incomes when they are adults..... Exactly how much control do I have over these hopes for my kids.... I can't MAKE them be tall.... nor can I secure them a job.... but I CAN do something about how tolerant they are of different people!!!

One of the video's on the It gets better site says this:

It doesn't get better... We just get smarter!


I want my kids to be smart enough to NOT bully and not be bullied! I don't know HOW to accomplish that... but I'm gonna try! How do you teach this to your kids? Share your ideas with me