Speak Up

As a parent, it's impossible to hear these tweens' stories and not imagine your own kids in a similarly heartbreaking situation. Watching with as a family is a great way to jump-start a discussion with your kids about their own feelings and experiences with bullying. We've all heard the saying about sticks and stones -- and chances are, that was our own first line of defense when the slurs were slung our way on the playground. But as the tweens in Speak Up will tell you, it's a different world now, and today's bullies have a much bigger arsenal of threats to unleash on their victims. As a result, it takes a proactive defense to hold your own, which is why Speak Up's message is so important for both kids and parents to hear.

Speak Up is less gritty than the more well-known documentary on the same subject, Bully, and its messages of empowerment and standing up for what's right are targeted toward grade-schoolers and tweens more than the teen set. The content targets the concerns that are on kids' minds: "If I tell someone, they'll think I'm a snitch," "Maybe if I ignore it, it will stop," and "What did I do wrong?" Guest celebrities, kids, and experts offer real-world advice on coping with bullies, reflecting Speak Up's overriding theme of speaking up to fight back and reminding kids that asking for help in a tough situation is a sign of strength rather than weakness. What's more, parents who haven't had to cope with this issue firsthand will gain a better understanding of its far-reaching effects from these kids' poignant accounts and should be more aware of the warning signs as a result.