My sister is a teacher. True to form, she always comes up with neat little word pictures to make learning easier for her students. Last school year, she had a ring of bullying going on in her class. To combat the teasing, she taught the students about the wrinkled heart.
It goes like this: Each child’s heart is a paper heart. Whenever someone is mean to someone, they crumple up their heart. Even if they’re sorry for what they’ve done, and they try to “uncrumple” the heart, lay it flat, and try to straighten out as best they can, the wrinkles will always be there. That’s why it’s better to never crumple the heart in the first place; you don’t want to leave wrinkles on someone else’s heart forever.
As you look toward the start of school, now is the perfect time to use this discuss it with your children so they’ll be able to identify if they’re the bully, the victim, or the “kid in the middle.”
