I found this on A Magical Childhood‘s pinterest. She found it at The Hermit on a Hill’s Tumblr. I wanted to share.
***
A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform.
She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it, and really mess it up but to not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out, and look at how scarred and dirty is was.
She then told them to tell it they’re sorry.
Even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. They might fade a bit, but they’re permanent.
That is what happens when a child bullies another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever.
The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home. Pass it on or better yet, if you’re a parent or a teacher, do it with your child/children.
****
Yes. Do. Stick and stones may break my bones, but words leave scars.
NaptimeWriting 
I adore this exercise. I’m going to share it with my boys right now. (Thanks for sharing this with us!)
I loved finding it, too, Jane. Hope it helps change someone, somewhere so that some day we don’t have to deal with this anymore.
I already read this to a friend who was a teacher, straight off my phone’s email when I got it, and posted it on FB. I really love this. So simple and clear. And true.
Simple but wonderfully powerful. There have been so many incidents of suicide in my city lately due to bullying. I hope and pray that my children will never be the victims of a bully, will be able to protect someone who is a victim or will never, ever, ever be a bully. I posted to FB to share with my friends, some who are teachers. I hope they share in their classes.
Let Me Start and Jen, I posted because it struck me as painfully visceral to stomp on that paper then see the marks. Who knows if it’s a true story…doesn’t matter because if we all do this now, it will be true.
This warning is true for friendships and marriages and families, too, because words really make a permanent mark and the sooner we control out words the happier we’ll all be.
My friend, who before having kids taught young kids, and I got to talking about this. She thinks schools need to start doing stuff like this – simple, non-scary exercises – while they are still young.
My 4.5yo thinks that she can’t draw on a wrinkled piece of paper because it is “ruined forever”. So she would totally get this.
Metaphorical thinking that rocks.
This exercise is so simple and so powerful. I got the chills reading it. Will be sharing everywhere….
Hi, Lauren. I felt the same way. Hope it helps someone, somewhere.