Stand For The Silent

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, making it an ideal time to examine some of the crucial factors surrounding this hot-button issue. Bullying touches families from coast to coast and in all demographic areas. The more we can shed light on it and learn to understand it, the better equipped we will be as a nation to help prevent it from happening.

You’ve probably found this page because you encountered Stand for the Silent through a presentation, a community outreach event (like a table outside of a store), or perhaps you saw someone wearing our t-shirt, or you read something online or on social media. Now, you’re researching to see if Stand for the Silent is legitimately one of the most effective anti-bullying organizations. Yes, we are a 501(c)(3) organization, founded in 2010. Yes, our work is possible only because of individual donors like you. Yes, we genuinely make an impact on the critical issues of school bullying and teen suicide.

When I began this podcast, I never imagined that I would meet real live superheroes. Kirk Smalley is the President of StandForTheSilent.org. This nonprofit organization was started in 2010 by a group of high school students in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma after they heard the story of Kirk’s son, Ty who committed suicide after standing up to bullies in his school. Stand for the Silent has chapters in 40 states and 18 different countries. Kirk’s organization has spoken with 4,911 schools and over 3.5 million children in order to help prevent bullying.

Cyberbullying, the use of electronic devices to harass, shame, incite and humiliate, is imposing a devastating impact on today’s youth. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, between 2007 and 2019, the percentage of youth experiencing cyberbullying rose from 18% to 37%.

Stacy Hawkins, a 30-year-old mother of three, recently told The Wall Street Journal that her 12-year old girl and 13-year-old boy have a remarkable relationship: They parent each other.

Hawkins, in a conversation with reporter Charlie Wells, said “nothing is off limits … from why one sibling shouldn’t watch a certain movie on Netflix to how the other should organize his bedroom. When arguments get out of hand, the parents take what they call the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ approach: Both children get punished, even if just one was trying to control.”

Kirk Smalley, of Perkins, Oklahoma, is president of Stand for the Silent, an anti-bullying organization that has reached more than 3.2 million children through talks at 4,276 schools across the United States. In his talks, Smalley retells the devastating story of the day his son, Ty, took his life after years of being bullied. Since then, telling children they can make a difference has been his full-time job — his schedule shows more than 275 days on the road annually.

Does your child’s school allow cellphones? You may be surprised that policies can vary even within districts and that those policies may contradict your own rules for cellphone use during school.

What’s the difference between cyberspying and monitoring? Cyberspying means to secretly collect information, and it will likely backfire for your children because it doesn’t foster a relationship based on trust. Monitoring your child’s location or media use with their knowledge, on the other hand, is fair game because you’re their parent.

How many hours in a day is too long to use a digital device? The short answer is whenever, as a parent, you think is too long, but experts generally agree on a few conclusions. Screens should be off limits to children under 2. Although the American Academy of Pediatrics says “entertainment” screen time should be limited to just two hours a day, Common Sense Media quashes fears of zombie children: “The reality is that most families will go through periods of heavy and light media use, but so long as there’s a balance, kids should be just fine.”