How Do You Beat a Bully? Sick Five 5th Graders on ‘Em!

We have all been there. Dreading the person or persons in school, when we are young and vulnerable, who makes us feel small.  For some, it may be a fleeting incident or two. For others, it is a daily way of life. Constant and endless rants about our most obvious human flaws. Sometimes the voice our bully becomes our own inner voice whicht can lead to a lifetime of struggle no one should have to live with.

It breaks my heart that any child has to go through this. Far too many do and this story put a quick end to it in Minnesota, all thanks to a group of 5th graders to decided to love their fellow classmate enough to step in. This will give you goosebumps!

Five, 5th graders from Mankato, Minnesota saw their classmate being bullied during recess. Like most kids, they could have chosen to ignore it or at least gotten a teacher and then walked away. Nope. These boys decided they were going to stop it themselves and then guard a special needs student who this was happening to all the time. Then, they took it one step further. They became his friend.

When Gus Gartzke, Tyler Jones, Jake Burgess, Landon Kopischke, and Jack Pemble found out their classmate had no friends and no one to sit with at lunch, they had to him sit with them. When they saw him struggling to tie his shoes or struggle opening a bag of chips, they helped him (instead of ridicule him)! And when they found out he liked to play video games, they pooled their money together and bought him a Play Station!

As a parent, I couldn't be more proud of these kiddos! I nearly cried when I was reading this on-air this morning. I got goosebumps just thinking about how these boys could have easily 'joined the crowd' and made life a living hell for this special-needs child. It brings my heart great joy in knowing they exercised the power of one choice and decided to do the right thing.

Thanks to these boys, not only have they all gained a new friend, but they have changed his life.

Read the full story and see the photos: http://www.kare11.com/story/news/local/land-of-10000-stories/2015/05/31/mankato-franklin-elementary-bullying-fifth-graders/28260465/