LI Middle School Students Stand Up to Bullying

LINDENHURST, NY - An 11-year-old Lindenhurst middle school student has turned bullying into a movement encouraging kindness.

It all started when Payton Kruse went to school proudly wearing her special cheerleading hair bow she earned for being an excellent cheerleader. That day, she was bullied by a couple of girls in her school for wearing the bow.

After hearing about the bullying, her mother Heather D'Amico wrote a Facebook post in a local group sharing how upset her daughter was and asked for help from the community to help raise awareness of the bullying problem.

She asked the local students to show their support by wearing bows to school.

As a result, many of the children at Krue's school wearing bows to school, including some boys who wore them on their wrists, in show of support of her.

In addition, several students drew bows and posted them on their lockers to show unity against bullying.

Krue's aunt, Kylie Breski also made a post on social media requesting photos from people all over the world wearing bows to help show their support for Krue as well as help to end bullying. Through her Facebook campaign, she has received well over 300 pictures from moms all over the country, as well as in Canada, of their children wearing bows using the hashtag '#RockTheBowForPayton.'

"We have been in awe at the support we’ve received for Payton," Breski said. "Bullying is becoming more and more frequent in schools, not only in Long Island schools, but worldwide and we want to show everyone that bullying is not okay and if everyone stands together against bullies, there’s power in numbers."

The tradition will continue with more Lindenhurst students expected to come together to wear bows to stand up against bullying on Wednesday.

"We want to make one thing clear, this isn’t about her being made fun of for a bow, this is about standing up against bullies and showing them that this is not okay," she said. "Being a preteen/teen is hard enough without being picked on and bullied in and out of school."

Photos courtesy of Kylie Breski