Manny the Manny
I am a male nanny ("manny") with 11+ years of experience in taking care of children, as well as training parents and other caregivers. I enjoy everything about children, especially when they share their chocolate milk with me. Most importantly, I'm here to help. Ask me a question or send me an email.
Well, that’s because I’m not there. My alter ego deactivated his Facebook account until at least November 7, thereby also suspending MY Facebook page. The nerve.
It’s just all this political nonsense clogging up my news feed. It’s cool that people are involved and care about the election and everything, but seriously, a status message is not going to change anyone’s mind. No one is swinging Ohio by posting a picture of Mitt Romney’s head superimposed on a cat’s body with the caption “I CAN HAZ BUJIT PLAN?” All that’s doing is poking a bear — or, I guess, two bears — already engaged in such a low level of discourse that it’s irrelevant.
At the very least, it’s irrelevant to me. I know who I’m voting for. My mind has been made up for a while now. So, I’m just seeking solace from the noise.
And for the record, it’s nice! I may never go back. So, in the mean time and until further notice, I recommend Twitter as the best way to follow me, or choose your poison.
Thanks everyone for reading a following, and don’t forget to vote!
—Manny
(Image credit: birgerking’s flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.)
After getting in-depth about the problem, today it is time to discuss the solution. Or rather, the solutions. There is no magic bullet for bullying. There is no panacea to make it stop tomorrow. If there were, we’d be all over it.
Instead, putting a stop to bullying calls for each and every one of us to make an effort, at least in a small way. From a global level, to your community and even in your own home, here are ten ways that you can help put a stop to the bullying epidemic:
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Donate to a group like PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. Those dollars go directly into programs to curb bullying in communities nationwide. There are plenty of other organizations out there dedicated to the cause that could use your dollars, so choose whichever one you like.
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Volunteer for an organization that has a presence in your community. This is a great way for people who may not have the money to donate to still get involved. Programs like Beyond Bullies, Anchors of Hope and Buddies not Bullies are all great ways to get involved. Visit VolunteerMatch.org to search for opportunities in your area.
So, this is a real thing. And if this doesn’t ruffle your feathers, I don’t know what will. Let’s just say there will be NO tickling Elmo this Halloween.
No. Stop it. Stop it right now.
(I am emphasizing bullying and bullying awareness, as part of National Bullying Prevention Month. Please click here to read Monday’s post about my bullying experience, if you have not already.)
At the shelter, we occasionally ran into problems with cliques and bullying. Oddly enough, it wasn’t constant, but twice a year or so, we had to have a self-government meeting because a few of the seemingly softer kids were being targeted by those who fancied themselves among the hardcore. The consequence for anything that even remotely resembled bullying became so severe as to effectively result in loss of all privileges for the bully.
I had a director in those days who said something at one of these meetings that has stuck with me ever since:
So, about today’s bullying post (which was actually supposed to be yesterday’s bullying post)…
I’ve had trouble adhering to my original schedule on these posts, mostly because they’ve taken more out of me than I expected. But also, just as I was wrapping things up on the latest post, a kitty walked across my keyboard, somehow obliterating everything in Tumblr.
Fortunately, I wrote it offline, so all is not lost, buuuttt I can’t put it up until after work. (Manny can’t blog while mannying, after all.) Stick with me, folks. I appreciate the huge response I got from Monday’s post, and there are more in the offing.
Be brave.
—Manny
As I announced last week, I will be running posts related to bullying all this week, as part of National Bullying Prevention Month. Today, I invite you to read my own bullying story, which to this point has been shared with very few people. I hope that you find it interesting, and maybe even illuminating.
Middle School
I was bullied in school throughout my childhood. From about 3rd grade to 7th grade, I was teased because of my weight. Although no one who has met me recently ever believes it, I was in fact the fat kid in my class. In 7th grade, I topped out at about 5’ 2” and 152 pounds. In hindsight, that doesn’t even seem that fat to me, and yet, my classmates were merciless.
Around that time, I hit a growth spurt, shooting up 5 inches while also losing 25 pounds. When I returned to school for 8th grade at a svelte 127 pounds, I figured the bullying would be over. I was wrong.
Earlier this week, I was reminded that October is National Bullying Prevention Month. That is as good a reason as any for me to expound on an issue that is near and dear to my heart.
(I meant to have this post up a few days ago, but in case you haven’t heard…)
According to BullyingStatistics.org, in 2010:
- 15% of students who miss school report that their absence is due to fear of being bullied.
- About 71% of students say bullying is an ongoing problem.
- Roughly 10% of students change schools or drop out of school because of being repeatedly bullied.
These statistics go on and on, and none of them looks good. Scariest of all is that new research, including a study by the Yale School of Medicine, has started to uncover a link between being bullied and suicide. This phenomenon has become common enough to earn its own term: bullycide.
In honor of NBPM, next week I will be running a series of posts centering around bullying, include a personal story as well as some tips for parents to combat bullying and some community resources to help get involved.
This problem has gone on long enough and harmed too many children. It’s time we all worked to put an end to bullying. Now.
That was Yoshi’s rendition of Chris Rock’s song from the Madagascar 3 trailer. Although he’s not far off on the words, I still found it funny how children can hear different lyrics to songs because of their more limited frame of reference. Since Yoshi has no idea what an afro is, he just plugs in a word that he is familiar with and sounds similar, even if it makes no sense.
It’s like when I was just learning to read and I felt totally confident that the title of this book was “Banging Tricycles”:
(H/T to The Ultimate GIF Database for the Madagascar GIF.)
As several readers have noticed, I have been MIA this week. Aside from one post on Monday — which I managed to throw together on the train — I have been almost invisible.
The straight dope is that I’ve been under the weather, dealing with a sinus infection. I get about three of them a year, but I’m always in denial about them when they crop up. This time, I powered through without missing any work — the parents don’t get to take sick days, so why should I? — but eventually I realized I was sicker than I thought. This became abundantly apparent on Tuesday, when I had to take a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day after dropping Yoshi off at synagogue, just to feel like I could carry on living.
So, at any rate, that’s my excuse for my radio silence. I’m still sick today, but I’m on the mend and will have a new, substantive post up this afternoon over the weekend.
In the mean time, I’ll throw a Kid Kwote your way to reward your patience. Thank you as always for reading, and remember to always dress warmly and wash your hands frequently.
—Manny
Last week, Gothamist published a post reporting that thirteen New York City public high schools have begun to dispense emergency contraception drugs – more commonly known as Plan B or the morning-after pill – to students.
The contraception measure is part of a city-wide health initiative called Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health, or CATCH, which is an unfortunate acronym if you ask me. The program has roots in a 2011 pilot program, according to Gothamist:
During an unpublicized pilot program in five city schools last year, 567 students received Plan B tablets and 580 students received Reclipsen birth-control pills, according to the Department of Health. Parents can opt out of the program, but only about 1 to 2 percent of parents at each school have returned the opt-out sheets, said DOH spokeswoman Alexandra Waldhorn.
(Read the full post here and the original NY Post article here.)
