October Marks Bullying Awareness Month
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Throughout the U.S., parents, kids, and educators are coming together to draw attention to an issue with some very tragic consequences. Video by fox47news.com
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October is Bullying Awarenes Month, and throughout the U.S., parents, kids, and educators are coming together to draw attention to an issue with some very tragic consequences.
Numerous bullying stories have surfaced in the last couple of weeks. We have an update on one of those stories. An Ohio community is coming together after a 10-year-old disabled girl's parents say she was mocked at the bus stop for the way she walked.
Hope Holcomb has cerebral palsy and has to use braces to get around. Her parents say a 9-year-old boy teased her for a year on the bus, and recently his dad joined in what they call bullying.
Hope's grandmother recorded a video showing neighbor William Bailey and his son limping awkwardly down the street. It has enraged viewers, and of course Hope's parents.
"She's never done anything to deserve anything like that - for him to make fun of her and then to have his son do it too," says Hope's father Mike Knight.
The Canton, Ohio community had a pizza party for Hope over the weekend to show support for the Holcomb family - as well as draw attention to bullying as a whole.
We are now hearing from Bailey, who says he "loves that little girl" and that a work injury is to blame for the way he was walking.
Hope's parents aren't buying it.
"When you get hit so hard your ribs get bruised - or broken - but I won't say broken. So when you go like this, you're holding them ribs in for pressure," says Bailey.
"I'm not even sure what to say to that except that it's a horrible excuse for doing what he did," says Knight in response.
And other bullying complaints are coming to light: a disturbing attack at an Indiana school, with a boy beaten unconscious as other students stand by and watch.
Unfortunately, this is only a handful of what's been reported recently. Studies have shown that school dropout rates and absences among victims of bullying are much higher than other students.
Kids who bully others are six times more likely to have a criminal conviction by age 24, and are more prone to becoming child and spouse abusers.
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