A woman with a mission to end childhood bullying

Carolina, a mom of three is on a mission to end childhood bullying. After a twenty-year career as a health care professional in Canada, Carolina decided to change careers and pursue her dream of becoming a children’s author. She is thrilled to launch her newest story Kool to Be Kind. This picture book was written to shine a powerful light as to why some children become bullies. By encouraging a shift from reacting negatively towards bullies to pro-acting with kindness, understanding, and empathy, this book was written with hopes of causing a ripple effect of kindness and decreasing the incidence of childhood bullying. 

Kool to Be Kind is an excellent resource for parents and teachers to open up the line of communication on the important topic of bullying. An alarming 1 in 3 children in Canada are a victim of bullying and statistics show that every 7 minutes a child is being bullied in the school playground. Carolina hopes that together we can make a difference to end childhood bullying.

As a mom, Carolina has always instilled the importance of empathy and forgiveness with her children. She herself was bullied from time to time and her children have also been a target for bullies in their school. These experiences inspired Carolina to write her story. She strongly feels that support should be readily available for the victims of bullying and also for the children who bully.

“Let’s face it, children who feel loved and secure are not interested in bullying others. Typically, children who bully come from broken homes, or have been bullied themselves. They are struggling internally with feelings of loneliness, low self-worth, or do not feel loved or accepted. Their lashing out is a cry for help. These children certainly need kindness, compassion, understanding, and support, to help break their cycle of bullying.”

During Carolina’s research on the topic of bullying, she found that zero-tolerance and punishment towards bullies have had very little effect on decreasing the incidence of childhood bullying.

“It’s like placing a band-aide on an open wound, without properly cleaning it, to help it heal properly. It is time to flip the switch and try a more positive approach to ending childhood bullying,”

Carolina has created a #Kool2BeKind club. She hopes it will be implemented in classrooms all around the world. She hopes it will inspire and motivate children to become more mindful and the kindest version of themselves. Perhaps, Carolina’s movement will be recognized globally, similarly to Pink Shirt Day, which is recognized in almost 180 countries including New Zealand, China, Panama, and Japan. With greater awareness of bullying and compassion for the bullies, maybe Carolina is right, maybe we can break the cycle and all be a little kinder. To join Carolina’s #Kool2BeKind movement and for more information on the #Kool2BeKind club visit www.kool2bekind.net.