Mom uses brilliant paper trick to teach her girls about bullying, and it's a lesson for everyone

There's no bigger achievement for a parent than to teach their kids to be kind and empathetic. It's not easy to teach kids these values at a very young age but Life coach Diosa Chiqui showed how it was possible to break down complex subjects with simple techniques. Chiqui posted a brilliant video showing how she came up with a way to teach her two daughters to not bully. The video that's going viral on the internet was posted on TikTok and show the kids getting the message. In the video, Chiqui can be seen sitting down with her two daughters Alayna and Neelia. She holds up a clean smooth paper in front of them. 

Chiqui instructs her daughter: “Say mean things to this paper.” The two children duly oblige, not hesitating to say mean things. “You’re ugly,” one said to the paper while another said, “You don’t have no friends.” As Alayna and Neelia made each hurtful comment, Chiqui crumpled up a corner of the paper. “You’re fat!” one told the paper, while another said, “That’s why your mom doesn’t love you.” Chiqui kept crumpling the paper as they continued the tirade against the paper. One finally insult, “You smell like dog food!” and the paper was crumpled into a ball. 

Chiqui then asked her children to say sorry to the paper. "Now, I want you both to apologize to this paper," she told Alayna and Neelia and they promptly did. She then unraveled the paper and the wrinkles could be seen on the originally smooth paper. "Is it fixed?" she asked them. "No," her two daughters replied. “This is why you don’t bully,” she told them. "Understood?" she asks and the younger one replies, "Ok Mama," and the other daughter agrees, "Yes, Mom."

The message had truly hit them. It was the teaching moment for the two girls and for the many parents and kids who watched the video. The powerful visualization of the crumpled paper demonstrated that apologizing for one's behavior didn't really undo the damage that bullying inflicts on people. The kids got the message that simply saying sorry didn't absolve them of the blame either.  

Many praised Chiqui for explaining the complex subject and teaching kids to empathize at such a young age. “!!!!! Yes we need more parents like you,” wrote one commenter. “Can you be my mom too?” asked a user, while another added, "So simple illustration but has a strong message." Paris Hilton was moved by the video and commented, “So sweet. Love this so much!” One woman commented, "Thank you for teaching your children the right thing to do." The video was viewed more than 2.8 million times with more than 45,000 people commenting on it.

Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use, and suicide, according to a US government website. Kids who are bullied can experience negative physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health issues. They are also more likely to experience depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. Many of these issues may persist into adulthood.

Hopefully, Chiqui's lesson can serve as an easy and important way for parents to broach the subject of bullying and emphasizing why it's important to be kind.