Welcome.

This site was built for one reason. To become a place for children, parents, teachers, and any community members interested in stopping bullying in our schools.

There are a lot of issues that arise from bullying. Over eating, lower grades, low self esteem, little social activity, feeling inadequate and unloved, and many more.

All children, and all human beings, have 6 basic human needs that we all value and MUST have to survive. They are Certainty, Variety (Uncertainty), Significance, Love/Connection, Growth, and Contribution.

Bullying happens when a child recognizes that he/she can fulfill one of these needs by bullying another child. This is the same reason that someone would join a gang or start drugs.

The problem comes because by meeting the bully’s needs, he/she is also taking away from the other child’s needs.

Here’s an example. When Jack (bully) decides to pick on Jon (victim) because of his weight, he is meeting his need for significance (I’m better than him), love/connection (from people watching him/feeding him attention), andcertainty (knowing that Jon won’t do anything about it and accept the bullying).

At the same time, Jon’s needs are not being met. Jon needs to feel love/connection, which is being taken from him because everyone around him is laughing (watch “Laugh at the Fat Kid”). Jon also needs to feel significance, which is being stripped from him because everyone is now looking down on him. Jon needs to feel growth but can’t grow/learn because he’s living in fear of everyone around him and it’s stripping his confidence to apply himself at anything.

Bullying is a HUGE problem. Kids need to learn confidence, practice integrity, experience kindness every day and the only thing that bullying does is to further hinder a child’s ability to grow and succeed in life.

We built this website to begin a community wide dialogue about bullying, record examples of bullying, tell stories of what’s happening in our school systems, and to work to put a stop to a problem that has spiraled out of control.

You may have found this website because of a Bully Presentation given by a student in the classroom (with a set of banners and postcards). This presentation was put together to help raise awareness about possible solutions to the bully epidemic.

I look forward to your contribution.

~Zach Hayden