Do school bullies belong in jail? What does bullying itself do to children's mental health? When kids make other kids' lives miserable, is it time for the state to respond? These are the questions media outlets are raising in the wake of a series of high-profile suicides by children and teenagers in Texas and elsewhere.
Safety and mental health, tolerance and appropriate disciplinary responses—these are weighty issues in the lives of children and parents. Certainly, there is evidence that Texas could be doing more to help the adults charged with watching over children protect them better. Training to help schools foster safe environments, programs that nurture healthy social development early in childhood, efforts to keep hate speech off of campuses—these are all worthy endeavors.
It is also clear, though, that the trend toward policies that take acts of misbehavior, once handled in the principal's office, and make them the business of the correctional system can do real harm. More and more children are funneled out of school and into the juvenile justice system or adult court, over infractions we used to ask the people closest to children, our educators and parents, to respond to first. If we treat children and youth as monsters—especially when they are acting out, as developmentally, most human beings their age sometimes do—we miss an opportunity to guide their growth into better adults.
A preschool teacher once told me, "As adults, we see victims and bullies. What we forget is that every child has the capacity to be both those things.” We forget our own capacity, sometimes, too—not only to protect children from abuse but also to lead children to be empathetic, compassionate grown-ups one day.
News and Reports Weekly Round-Up
Child and Maternal Health
10.13.10 School Cafeterias to Try Psychology in Lunch Line (Associated Press)
10.13.10 Make Sure Health Premium Dollars Get Spent on Actual Health Care (Action Alert)
10.13.10 U.S. to Let Insurers Raise Fees for Sick Children (New York Times)
10.12.10 Budget Shortfall Forces Big Cuts for Disabled (Texas Tribune)
10.7.10 Some Insured Children Miss Proper Health Care Due to Costs (USA Today)
10.1.10 Junk Food Nearly Half of Kids' Calorie Intake (ABC News)
More Health News...
Child Protection
10.15.10 Mistreatment in Childhood May Trigger Elevated Stress Response in Adulthood (MedScape Today)
More Protection News...
Family Financial Security Headlines
10.13.10 Texas Report Card Gives Texas Low Grades on Educating Children in Poverty (Quorum Report)
More Financial Security News...
Juvenile Justice Headlines
10.8.10 Training Video Looks at Needs of Female Juvenile Offenders (USA Today)
10.4.10 From Lockers to Lockups: Should School Bullying Be a Crime? (Newsweek)
More Juvenile Justice News…
Child Mental Wellbeing Headlines
10.15.10 Upcoming Tuesday - Promising Practices in Serving Children with Complex Behavioral Health Needs and Their Families: System of Care in Texas (Texas Children's Mental Health Forum)
10.13.10 Hogg Mental Health Policy Academy Launches (Texans Care for Children)
10.11.10 Lawmakers Trying to Take on Bullying Again (Houston Chronicle)
More Mental Health News...
