THIS IS ROSIE Dutton.
She teaches at the children’s programme Relax Kids in Tamworth, Birmingham – yesterday, she shared this effective explanation of the effects of bullying on Facebook.
Dutton wrote that she brought two apples to her class, hiding the fact that she had bruised one by gently tapping it on the floor.
She asked the children what they thought of the apples, and they all agreed that they both looked red and “juicy enough to eat”.
I picked up the apple I’d dropped on the floor and started to tell the children how I disliked this apple, that I thought it was disgusting, it was a horrible colour and the stem was just too short…
Some children looked at me like I was insane, but we passed the apple around the circle calling it names. “You’re a smelly apple!” “I don’t even know why you exist!” “You’ve probably got worms inside you.”
The other apple was given kinder treatment, and told it was a “lovely apple”, with “beautiful skin”. Once again, Dutton asked the children to observe the two apples – they looked exactly the same, just as they had before.
I then cut the apples open. The apple we’d been kind to was clear, fresh and juicy inside. The apple we’d said unkind words to was bruised and all mushy inside.
Dutton’s explanation has been shared over 98,000 times, with parents and fellow teachers saying they would use the example in their own classes.
She said the children understood the lesson immediately, but she was completely unprepared for the reaction it got on Facebook.
We reckon kids aren’t the only ones who’ll benefit from this kind of thinking…
