THE MOM PLEDGE . . . .

Anyone that knows me well, or if you've read some of the posts on the blog, you know that my "hot topic" is bullying.  ANY kind of bullying.  I've mostly focused on bullying to and by children because I HAVE children, and I want to make sure I'm aware of everything that is going on with them.  I don't want them to be bullied.  I know I probably can't stop it from happening, but I CAN be there to shut it down when it starts.  And most importantly, I can make sure MY children, aren't the bullies.

But the really sad part to me is that it's not just children that bully.  At least with children you can kind of sit back and say, "well, they don't know any better.  Someone needs to teach them."  And that's all fine and dandy.  But what about when the bully is an adult?  What then?  How do you handle that?  What do you say to them?  Do you say ANYTHING to them?  Do you just ignore them?  HOW do you ignore them when they're bashing YOU? 

When I started this blog almost 2 years ago, (WOW!  Where does the time go?!), it was started to document our journey over in China.  We were there by ourselves, and I wanted our family and friends back home to be able to see pictures of the places we were visiting, and to know about the things we were doing so that they would, hopefully, not worry about us too much.  And it was a great tool for that.  

But then when we got home, I found that I still wanted to continue writing.  I used to write A LOT up until I graduated from college.  But then life happened and I just got too busy, so I stopped doing it.  This was my opportunity to start doing it again.  I find it very therapeutic to write about the things that are going on with our family, and also my feelings about things that are going on in the world.  The blog became less informative, and more personal.  I started reading other people's blogs and hearing about the things they're doing and reading about their feelings about things.  I've found some that I LOVE and look forward to updates from them every day.  There were some I found that I didn't like as much, so they aren't on my list of favorites.  That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them.  It just means I didn't "connect" with them.  But I would NEVER say anything negative about them.  Most of us that are writing are writing our own personal feelings.  My feelings are just that - MY feelings.  They're not yours.  Just because you don't agree with me, it doesn't mean I'm wrong.  So if you don't agree with me.  That's fine.  If you don't agree with someone else.  That's fine too.  But you don't have to be mean and nasty and post comments on their blog that if you heard your child saying those things, you'd probably wash their mouths out with soap!  If it's not okay for your children, what makes it okay for you?  We are different people.  We all have different perspectives on life.  If you don't like someone's perspective, then you don't have to go back.  But you also don't need to make negative comments about their character.  

Some thought provoking moms came up with the idea of The Mom Pledge.  And I think it's a great idea.  It's basically saying I will stand up to cyber bullying; I will treat other bloggers with respect; if I disagree with someone, I will not attack them personally; I will not let them attack me if they disagree with me.  It's basically the principles most of us try to teach our children.  If those principles are good enough for my children, then why shouldn't I be expected to follow them as well?  

So today, I've chosen to take the pledge. Because I want my kids to see me living the principles I am trying to instill in them.