Part 1 of a 10 part series: Leader-friendly gardening practices to end bullying, running through November 1 through December 1, 2011.

If a child you know is bullied or bullying, I promise this series will make a difference.

In the first three posts, I will outline the problem and my thoughts on the subject. In the next six, I will cover the six leader-friendly gardening practices that will not only make a difference in a culture of bullying but provide the basis for thriving leadership. On December 1, I’ll wrap it up with my concluding thoughts. 
 

Disclaimer:  I am not unbiased. You can read the prologue of my adult book to learn why. However, developing youth leadership to address our most pressing social issues has been my life’s work and passion.

The more I read about bullied youth dying by suicide, the more I connected my personal and professional experiences are to this topic.

My passion is also the reason for the existence of my blog, website, and U.N.I.Q.U.E. series of Leadership Garden empowerment tools for youth and adults. The heart of my mission is two-fold:

•  to create fertile ground for children to thrive
•  to provide resources for children to practice leadership through the Leadership Garden Fund - Cultivation Grant “Practice Projects.”

Your purchase of our empowerment tools for children and adults, along with your engagement as a registry member, will help make those practice funds available to children.

If we start teaching children when they are young to think for themselves, stand up for what they believe, and strive for their highest good, we can neutralize the negative influences around them. It takes the adults in their lives to do the same and adults to empower them.

Now back to the question.

Do anti-bullying laws and programs work? Yes, and No.

I shutter when I hear about enacting a new law or implementing an educational campaign consisting of an assembly and presentation as the solution to prevent any social problem - let alone bullying.

Laws do set boundaries and educational campaigns do raise awareness. Both are good starting points, but what do you do with them is what really counts, and without a fundamental shift in "thinking" these efforts are weakened.

Turning the other cheek or ignoring the bullying problem also doesn’t work and places more youth and our nation at risk each day. Whoever coined the phrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” was wrong.

The ongoing news reports about bullied youth dying by suicide has precipitated a national response laden with emotion to pressure officials to enact anti-bullying legislation and stricter policies from the statehouse to the schoolyard.

While understandable and necessary, in many of these cases, the abuse was not physical harm, rather an emotional harm that is not easily detected, healed, or undone. That is why bullying is a societal weed that must be uprooted.

What is wrong with just a legislate and educate approach?

Nothing – except it is a topical treatment, just like spraying pesticides in a garden. Through science and research, we now know that some of the pesticides (once thought harmless or technological advances) that were used to yield better crops have resulted in more environmental harm than good.

Before taking this topical approach to the bullying issue, I am suggesting we root out the problem and and go back to human nature to determine the kind of societal change that would make a difference. Putting that change into daily practice doesn't take money or much time, and the reason I coined the term “leader-friendly gardening practices.”

In the next post, I’ll address what adults can do make the kind of social change that will make a difference in the bullying issue.

In the meantime, please share your thoughts and stories.