A dedicated dad used an extremely disappointing situation as a learning opportunity for his daughter as well as a way to boost the self-esteem of another young girl. Father of three Randy Smalls, from Moncks Corner, South Carolina, was devastated to learn his teen daughter Re’Onna had been bullying another girl. However, he decided that instead of getting mad, he would try to make the best of a terrible situation so that everyone came away as better people.
- Re’Onna’s behavior was completely senseless. The bullying victim, Ryan Reese, was simply minding her own business at school when a group of girls that included Re’Onna began harassing her about her clothes and hair. “It’s just like me and my friends, just like talking and stuff and then all of a sudden I’m just getting picked on, bullied about my clothes, how I wear it,” the Berkeley seventh-grader told Live 5 News. “They were just really hurting me and it took my depression really down and like really hit me hard and stuff. I literally had enough so I told my mom what happened.”
- The girls’ moms were actually sisters. When Ryan told her mom about what happened and asked who was involved, she realized that she know Re’Onna’s parents and decided to give them a call. That’s when Randy decided to step in, as he’d also been the victim of bullying when he was in school. “Well, growing up I was bullied so I first understood how Ryan felt,” he explained.
- His punishment for Re’Onna was creative and appropriate. Instead of allowing his daughter to use the money she had for a weekend shopping trip, Randy instead decided to use that money on Ryan to help her feel better about herself. “She was supposed to go shopping that following Saturday, and her punishment was that the money that she was supposed to go and use, Ryan gets the money,” Randy said. “I think that’s the perfect punishment because my daughter likes to dress. So if they picking on a student because of the dressing, then I take away from her and give it to somebody else.”
- Randy took Ryan to buy some new clothes and get her hair done. This had an amazing effect on Ryan’s self-esteem and was totally worth it for Randy. “I believe as a parent, we have to take responsibility for what our children do. We can teach our children and we can do whatever we can to help our children, but we gotta first take responsibility,” Randy said. However, it made another massive mark on Ryan: making her feel cared for. “He’s the first father figure I ever had. Sorry, ever since my father died, it’s just, it’s just really hard. Now I have someone I can look up to,” Ryan said.
- Ryan and Re’Onna are now friends. Since the incident, the girls have made peace and are now friends. Hopefully Re’Onna has realized the inappropriateness of her behavior and has learned to treat people better.
