“In the next 7 minutes, a child in the U.S. will be bullied. It may be the son or daughter of someone you know. Worse, it may be your own child.”
This startling statistic is a reminder that despite the modified school year in the Treasure Valley, students are still getting "dissed" on Facebook and cellphones are flooded with mean texts. More children now turn to online activities during the summer break and studies show that 1 in 2 online gamers have at some point been bullied within a game. Even children as young as 6 years old have been known to hack into online interactive activities to sabotage each other's games.
“Meanwhile, only four out of 100 adults will step in to stop it. The rest — 85 percent — will do nothing”, says Melissa Nelson.
Melissa Nelson, the Founder and President of the Community Kindness Movement (CKM), knows the impact of harassment firsthand. The Community Kindness Movement was founded in 2015 by Melissa and her family because their own child was dealing with bullying. The family chose to perform acts of kindness, sending twenty-six single yellow roses anonymously to the school which ultimately brought awareness of harassment and youth violence, particularly in school settings.
The Nelson family started CKM in Bannock County, Idaho, where the first Community Kindness Week was proclaimed. As a growing non-profit organization, the Community Kindness Movement continued to spread this movement of compassion with the partnership of the Idaho PTA Congress. In 2018, Mayor Tammy de Weerd encouraged a relationship with West Ada School District paving the way for their school program to be approved by the biggest District in Idaho. Last year during the Community Kindness Week, current-Mayor, Robert Simmons, presented Melissa Nelson a Community Kindness Week Proclamation on behalf of the City of Meridian.
Says Nelson, “Children experience bullying each day, whether it be at home, online, in school, or out in our communities. Children have not yet developed the coping skills to brush off devastating effects. It’s our job to give our children the tools needed to be successful in life and to learn the valuable attributes that we make them successful. By teaching our children resilience and kindness, we can help teach them some of the most valuable life skills to get them through the adolescence.”
This year, the community members are galvanized with Governor Brad Little’s support in CLM’s efforts to advocate for Bullying and Suicide Prevention.
As a hallmark of every successful drive, the Community Kindness Movement distributes bright yellow Kindness T-shirts. The Kindness shirt is not just another school shirt; it is one of the most important visual learning tools used in the program, providing a very important message. Each year, a new Kindness design is created with the same message. Through local business sponsors, parent donations, PTO / PTA funds, and school grants, the shirts are purchased for every student and faculty and inspires unity and builds camaraderie. This year, the Kindness T-Shirt will be distributed and worn during the Meridian Community Kindness Week and encouraged to be worn throughout the school year each Thursday. The Kindness shirt embodies the spirit of UNITY throughout the community.
The Community Kindness Movement has also developed a Kindness Begins with Me Annual Program to increase awareness in schools. Community Kindness Week kicks off the “Community Initiative” and the “Kindness Begins with Me School Program” at the beginning of each school year. This year, CLM celebration begins the third week in September. Each day of the Kindness Week, there is an acts-of-kindness challenge for the community and for the schools to participate in.
What can we do to get involved?
- Join in a Kindness Initiative in Idaho. You can do it with your family or you can choose to join CKM to build a larger and lasting impact in Idaho. Everyone wants to live in a city and community that values kindness.
- Stand behind a proven initiative to support the youth with bullying and suicide prevention.
- In Education, children need to feel safe in their learning environment to thrive in their education. Let us put a focus on the WHOLE child.
- Lead a kinder work environment. Build camaraderie among city and county employees.
- Encourage your city, school district, local businesses, churches, libraries, and other organizations to support the kindness efforts and celebrate all together.
- Use your leadership influence to unify your city and Idaho to instill a healthy future for all of our children.
- Through generous sponsors and grants, CKM has funded 24,000+ Kindness Shirts since 2015. Become a sponsor and your business/name may be included on Kindness Shirts.
Identifying Bullies & Victims (American Federation of Teachers) https://www.aft.org/identifying-bullies-victims
Bullies can best be defined by their personality style.
- Enjoying aggression and the rewards gained from aggressive acts;
- Lacking empathy for their victim and lacking guilt for their actions;
- Dominating and like to be in charge;
- Having aggressive role models; and
- Thinking unrealistically about how the world should meet their needs.
Children who are being bullied may likely:
- Have torn, damaged or missing pieces of clothing, books or other belongings;
- Have unexplained cuts, bruises or scratches from fighting;
- Have few, if any, friends with whom he or she spends time;
- Seem afraid of going to school, walking to and from school, riding the school bus, or taking part in organized activities with peers;
- Lose interest in school work, a sudden change in performance and/or complain frequently of headaches, stomach aches or other physical problems.
For more information on how to participate in the Community Kindness Movement:
Website: www.TheCKM.org
Facebook: Community Kindness Movement
Instagram: @CommunityKindnessMovement