Today at school, my friend Brenda said that old saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I’m just a kid, but I think that saying is garbage… It doesn’t make ANY SENSE! I mean, OF COURSE words can hurt me. Kids used to make fun of me just because I’m a little bit smaller, and that hurt a lot. Nobody likes to get teased or made fun of—at least nobody that I know. Where did that saying start, anyway? It hurts when you’re called names, or when you’re left out, or when you’re made fun of just because something about you is a little different….
So I told her that I think that we should change that old saying to say “Sticks and stones can break my bones, and words CAN really hurt me!” I think this new saying is a whole lot better, IMHO. Maybe if kids learned this new saying, there would be a whole lot less kids thinking that teasing and name-calling are no big deal. And then, 100 years from now, when kids are taught this NEW saying as they are growing up and they wonder where it comes from, people can tell that kid it started right here with me, Jason Robinson—one of the Kids on the Block!
As my dad always says, “Just because someone is mean to you, it doesn’t mean that you have to be mean back to them.” He’s really smart. So if kids are teasing you or making fun of you, remember that we do not have to be mean back! We can say something nice, make a joke, try to ignore it, or even tell a grown-up about it if it’s happening a lot.
If anyone wants to know more about how to handle all this teasing and name-calling stuff, they should totally talk to my friends at www.kobnashville.org
