The word “bully” is not to be taken lightly. People who are bullied can suffer emotionally and physically for many years and sometimes forever.

I was bullied as a child. Some of the words that were said to me continue to stay with me to this day. I can vividly rememember many of the circumstances that I experienced in my youth. It started with my eyeglasses and went on from there. My heart goes out to all children who have ever been bullied. Do you know what though? My heart also goes out to people who are bullies. Why? Because most often, people who are bullies are having their own troubles in life that they don’t know how to deal with and therefore take it out on others.

Do I wish that bullying didn’t exist? Absolutely! However, this is not a reality. So, what can we do? We can educate youth for how to deal with being bullied. We can give them knowledge of what to look for, education for how to handle bullies and bullying situations and help give courage to stand up to bullies. AND as a society, we can take the initiative to not tolerate bullying where we have control.

One place where bullying is known to occur is in the malls, because typically, they are not monitored as closely as many parents would like them to be. But, this is soon to change!

RioCan has partnered with Leave Out Violence (LOVE), a national charity committed to reducing youth violence, putting a spotlight on this debilitating social issue.

RioCan has taken a stand against bullying with the launch of its Red Dot Safe Spot campaign, declaring all of its malls ‘Bully-Free Zones’!

As a younger child, I was never allowed going to the mall without an adult, but many children were. Today, malls continue to be a popular place for youth to “hang out” and wherever there is youth, there is the risk for bullying to take place. As a parent, I feel a comfort knowing that RioCan is taking this stand against bullying because it means that they will be keeping their eyes peeled and ears open when my own children are at an age when they are heading to the malls independently.

“Whenever you visit one of our 40 malls across Canada – and you see the red dot on mall signage and at entrances – you can be assured that bullying is not tolerated there.” ~ Lyle Goodis, vice president of marketing at RioCan.

Guest services is the Red Dot Safe Spot hub at RioCan enclosed shopping centres, where shoppers can go to report any form of bullying or to get help. Feel free to also visit www.reddotsafespot.com for more information and bullying support.

There is one last launch event this upcoming weekend on Saturday, April 25th from 2:00 – 3:00pm at Georgian Mall in Barrie. Feel free to join RioCan at this event to celebrate the launch of this campaign.

Also visit www.leaveoutviolence.org for more support on bullying and violence.

While this post has been sponsored by RioCan, my stand and opinions are definitely my own!