Northvankev

Hello everyone,

I'm researching the possibility of writing books dealing with the topic of dealing with bullies. Or perhaps to be more precise, dealing with the damage that a bully can bestow on hapless victims.

A brief bit of background - a family friend (he was 5 yrs old at the time) was bullied by an unrelated parent for dancing ballet and tap. The comments took their toll and within a few months, he dropped out and never wanted to have another adult watch him dance again (especially men). I found out about what had happened and after getting over my desire to do some very uncharitable things to this guy, decided to write a book especially for the boy. It was all of 8 pages, illustrated the best I could do (which is not good!), and wrote in very simple sentences about the boy and his feelings. As a result of the book, he had this huge emotional release and is now enrolling again in dance classes. (Ok, maybe not so brief)

My idea is to write books like this directed at children to help them deal with the emotional and self-esteem damage a bully can leave behind. Ideally, it'd be custom made for each individual child, but that is absolutely impractical, so that idea is out, at least for now. But I think I can write about general bullying topics, such as a boy who dances, a girl who plays football, or a child with a homosexual parent.

I've research online and at local bookstores and can only find books that try to explain why a bully does what s/he does, suggests resources to combat it, and the like. I haven't seen anything that tries to heal the damage.

And so I am wondering if there are folks out there who have had to deal with the aftermath of bullying? If so, has anyone reached for the books that are out there dealing with the topic? Were they helpful?

Would you consider buying a book that dealt with a relevant topic? What would you look for?

These are just a few questions that I'm trying to address! Any and all help in this will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks, Kevin

SeattleMom

I wrote a blog post about teasing/bullying including a book reference:

Priceless Parenting: Dealing with teasing and putdowns

You might also be interested in looking at the Don't Laugh At Me project:
Creating Compassionate, Safe, Respectful Environments - Operation Respect