And Words Can Hurt Forever
How to Protect Adolescents from Bullying, Harassment, and Emotional Violence
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
As a society, we are only just beginning to understand the degree of damage that bullying inflicts on individual teenagers and on their relationships later in life. In this groundbreaking work, James Garbarino and Ellen deLara uncover the staggering extent of emotional cruelty and its ramifications and counter the nursery rhyme that words don't hurt.
In this groundbreaking work, James Garbarino, the bestselling author of Lost Boys, and Ellen deLara uncover the staggering extent and consequences of schoolyard bullying and classroom hostility, flat-out contradicting the nursery rhyme that "words can never hurt you." The authors then present evidence that teenagers—hundreds of whom they interviewed—have the solution to school violence, if only adults would listen.
Bullying has long been regarded as a way of life. Ever since Columbine, however, student reactions to harassment and intimidation are, finally, driving parents to consider this phenomenon seriously. And Words Can Hurt Forever teaches parents to accept reality (bullying occurs daily), challenge old beliefs ("Kids will be kids" or "If I lived through it, so can they"), and ally with other parents to take on the school system. Revelatory and ultimately uplifting, And Words Can Hurt Forever doesn't just highlight the problem, but offers steps that can be taken—must be taken—to solve it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Using what's called action research, Cornell University professor Garbarino (Lost Boys) and therapist deLara interviewed students, educators and administrators to probe the issue of bullying in American schools. They've included interviews debunking the premise that kids can deflect taunts and jeers by using the familiar defense "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." Parents, teachers and counselors must remove their nostalgically rooted, rose-colored lenses and listen to teens, Garbarino and deLara say, in an effort to provide them with the safety they crave and need. Positing that psychological stabbings are all too common in adolescents' daily lives and that many of them feel powerless to defend themselves, the authors portray teens who believe they must endure emotional violence because adults aren't going to do anything about it (while others lash out against emotional abuse with physical violence). Although teenagers inevitably segment themselves into social groups, measures can be taken to quash bullying (the authors suggest broadening a student's peer group, lobbying for school uniforms and promoting character education, among other things). The revealing student interviews give depth to Garbarino and deLara's extensive knowledge in the field of teen psychology, and this effective guide will help adult readers truly understand the cruelty and violence present in today's schools.
