A seven-year-old boy in Beaumont, CA is employing a bit of “positive peer pressure” to help his classmates understand the damaging effects of adolescent bullying.
Cameron Thompson, a second-grader at Tournament Hills Elementary school, recently found himself in hot water after making fun of another boy for bringing a Barbie doll to school for show-and-tell. “I didn’t really mean to tease him so much that I made him cry,” Cameron told Today.
His punishment was to write an apology letter to his classmate, but according to his mother, Cameron’s guilt didn’t fade over the following weeks. “He came to me a couple of weeks later and he said, ‘I still feel really bad about what I did to him,'” Cameron’s mother Jessica Southard recalls. “He said, ‘How do I get that feeling to go away?'”
To help others learn from his mistakes, Cameron and his mother joined forces with the boy Cameron bullied to form an “anti-bully club,” which drew a whopping 76 kids in to its first meeting, far exceeding the school’s expectations. “Since I was sad, I thought I could make it up to him and he could feel better and I could feel better too,” Cameron said.
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The school’s principal notes that Cameron’s new club has had a positive impact on the school — bullying is “down” and parents have been nothing but overwhelmingly supportive.
To help amplify and spread their message, Cameron’s family commissioned the video below, which re-enacts the bullying incident while featuring Cameron’s comments in a voice-over. “I didn’t really understand a boy bringing a doll to school so I thought it was funny. I told some friends and I convinced them to come make fun of him with me. We all circled him and teased him,” he says. “I struggle to make good choices sometimes.”
Check out the video below, and share your thoughts with Cameron and his family at their newly-launched Facebook page.
Mezaien
Where are the parent??
BrianZ
“I struggle to make good choices sometimes.”
Holy shit. Impressive admission and self-awareness for one so young.
DickieJohnson
Brave boy, not only to feel badly about the incident, but to realize his wrondoing and the effects, to to do something about it, to make an amends. Hopefully, with the Facebook page, these sentiments will spread to other schools.
Lvng1tor
Book deal, reality show and Ellen appearance to follow!