Who's influencing your kids? Do you know?

Update: I found this link, last night and I sent it to the principal/superintendent. When I got to school this morning the poster was down. I also had an email waiting for me on my school email account.
Here is what it said:

Kari: I understand your fears and concerns. But here are mine....Chris Brown turned himself in and was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. The article you cite was posted Feb. 10. Aside from photos being released has there been an arrest, a trial, or a guilty plea?

I understand your concerns as I said earlier...personally I think he should be hung out to dry.. but in this country despite the press..you are innocent until proven guilty.. That is the foundation of what we live and die for....if we want to teach our kids anything that should be the lesson.

If we want to talk about lost endorsement money, career, etc. then I would encourage you to put those facts out. I am not sure we know what the facts are in this case. But we do have statistics to promote and educate with. We may find out more in the future on this case and then we can include the lessons on this ...as I see it ..right now all we have are media conjecture, some photos, posting of $50,000 bond and celebrities telling her not to go back to him... There may be things
coming that we are not aware of.

I appreciate your concerns and I understand your passion on this subject.

So today, I clocked out of work (at the Jr/Sr High School) and walked through the lunch room on my way out of the building. I've do this EVERY day. I also clock in there, and eat lunch in the same room. There have been many of these body by milk posters throughout the school year. I know most of the celebrities in them. A poster very similar to this one has been up for a while. It just clicked with me today WHO is in it, and what that message is sending to our students.

Today, as soon as I noticed it, I went to our principal/superintendent's office. He happens to be a good friend of mine. I'd already been to his office twice today over student issues, (We didn't exactly have the best day) so he kind of laughed at me when I came in again. I then explained to him that I didn't like the idea of this poster being displayed in the lunchroom. He knows my history, and he listened to my side of the issue. Then he gave his side. He said that since Chris Brown has not been found guilty of any charges yet, and since this IS America and a person is presumed innocent until being found guilty the poster will stay up.

I left his office FUMING MAD (without showing any disrespect of course). Then I had to go to work at the golf course. After I vented to Barb for a little while, I had some time to think.

Maybe this information that I found is right.We should use this as a teachable moment. Research shows that violence shows up in about one in four teen relationships, a figure that hasn't changed much in the past 30 years. Young people can take lessons from relationship violence playing out so vividly — and so brutally — in people so young: She's 21, he's 19.



The article explains that at first fans speculated that Rihanna actually attacked Brown or provoked him somehow. Then, on Feb. 19, a police crime scene photo emerged — unauthorized, as it turns out, and there still is no confirmation that it actually was Rihanna — of a battered woman, eyes closed, face bruised, bottom lip swollen.

Now there are police affidavits from the incident. They are disturbing.

Typically, most battered women endure three to five beatings like the one Rihanna allegedly received before they're "willing to give up" on the relationship. "They believe that the loving part is the real man, and the violence is just going to go away if they do what he wants or love him enough."



The Los Angeles district attorney, charged Brown on Friday with two felonies: assault likely to cause great bodily injury and making criminal threats. He's free for now but faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Oprah Winfrey, discussed the attack on her show last Friday. At one point Oprah stared into the camera and said to Rihanna: "Love doesn't hurt. I've been saying this to women for years: Love doesn't hurt. And if a man hits you once, he will hit you again. He will hit you again. I don't care what his plea is."

Please make sure that YOU are educating your kids. YOU are the one that has the most influence over them and they WILL listen. It can happen to anyone. Believe me.