Parents, I have said it before, and I will say it again. I will keep writing these articles until I don’t have to any more. Until all of us STOP giving our kids access to social media BEFORE they can handle it, until all of us START teaching our kids that their words can LITERALLY be the difference between LIFE AND DEATH. So many of us are raising kids who cannot see outside of their own selves. They do not value anyone else’s life or experience as important, and so they treat them like dirt. They have no empathy, so they cause pain.
And we make it 1,000 times easier for them to do it with little electronic devices like smartphones and tablets. With Instagram and SnapChat and Whisper and Kik – with so many of these apps they can even torture people ANONYMOUSLY! So easy. So DEADLY.
I am begging you parents, stop cyber bullying before it starts. To NOT give your tweens and young teens smart phones or tables and social media accounts. They don’t have those, they can’t be a cyber bully. Teach them to treat others as they want to be treated! Teach them empathy. They have these qualities, they WON’T be a bully of any kind.
Please, don’t let Gabbie Green’s death be in vain. Vow with me to DO BETTER. Our kids cannot handle the huge responsibility of social media when they are young. Let us not be the one that puts a deadly weapon in their hands. It is my hope that the fact that these two kids are actually being CHARGED in Gabbie’s case will make more parents think twice before they give their kids one.
