Chrysanthemum

I have had a lot of thoughts about relationships between girls and how much drama and name calling can really affect a child.  As an adult we hear bullying in schools like , "Oh, your weird " or "I don't want to be your friend anymore," or much worse!  However, these seem  to always get pushed a side in thought because no one believes it will really cause any harm.  "They are just words, we all said them when we were younger!" Am I right? "Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me," is something I remember hearing and saying to others.  Well think about it, what did  those words, the loss of friends, and the loneliness really feel like?  When I look back, it really hurt and my self confidence as a child diminished greatly.  So why is it so acceptable to just allow bullying around schools and young girls?  Shouldn't bullying be just as bad the "f" word or shut up?"

I recently read the childrens' book, Chrysanthemum by Keven Henkes.  This book has always been one of my favorites when it comes to childrens' literature.  It is a story of a young girl named Chrysanthemum who was born perfect in her parent's eyes and so they picked a name they believed to be absolutely perfect.  Chrysanthemum loved her name as much as her parents loved her; until, her first day of school.  At school all of the children laughed and made fun of her because she was named after a flower and her name wouldn't fit on the name tag.  Chrysanthemum and her confidence wilted but the music teacher Mrs. Twinkle  will try and show all the children that a name like Chrysanthemum is absolutely perfect!  

A young girl who had so much confidence and pride in her name lost all of that when one girl made a comment about how it was weird   That comment turned into the whole class making comments about her being named after a flower and continued until one person in the story stood up for Chrysanthemum and put a stop to the bullying.  I encourage all future teachers, future mothers, and girls of all ages to read this story.  Great discussions, activities, and empathy can be learned and practiced after reading this book and it can become a wonderful tool to use when looking at relationships between girls.

If someone is being bullied, stand up for them, and hopefully one day, they will stand up for another person being bullied because YOU gave them that confidence.