It seems like we are constantly hearing about a new story involving hazing or bullying. One may typically associate hazing with sororities, fraternities and sports teams. However, hazing incidents are even occurring in places like school buses, locker rooms, church youth groups and even camps, as discussed in the article “Hazed and Confused” by Sarah Mahoney from Family Circle magazine.

In this week’s news, a 15-year old girl from Massachusetts committed suicide as a result of being bullied and tormented by her schoolmates. To be bullied that much to the point of being driven to kill oneself just cannot be tolerated. The scary thing is, this girl was harassed in the presence of a school faculty member and several students, and none of them reported the incident until after the girl’s death.

Teen hazing is very disturbing. First of all, these incidents quickly escalate from bad to worse. Also, the incidents morph and then spread to younger kids. Contrary to popular belief, hazing doesn’t just occur among college students. According to psychologist Susan Lipkins, “Younger and younger kids are hazing one another and the rituals are becoming increasingly violent and sexualized.”

Hazing may spread to younger and younger children due to the fact that they went through it themselves and know how bad it felt and they want others to experience what they went through.

Thanks to technology such as Youtube and other video-streaming sites, nearly half of all initiation incidents wind up on the Internet. This does make people more aware of hazing incidents, but it is also causing the practice to be driven deeper underground, resulting in ever-more disturbing variations, according to the article. Hazing has been made illegal in all but six states and has also been explicitly banned at many middle and high schools.

According to Elizabeth J. Allan, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Maine, those who take part in hazing generally don’t intend for anyone to get hurt. Instead, the situation just tends to spin out of control. What may start out as seemingly harmless can turn into something humiliating and damaging.

Engaging in hazing rituals may make kids feel flattered and respected – it may mean they’re becoming part of the “in-crowd.” Kids will always want to belong to a group and they may be willing to do just about anything to be part of it. It’s not even limited to just kids hazing other kids. A high school soccer coach in Massachusetts was allowed to stand new members of the varsity team shirtless in goal, while older boys kicked balls at them so hard that they left marks. This should sound pretty horrifying to most people, but it didn’t even phase many students and parents from that school district.

It is very hard to stand up to hazing. “It takes a very strong, self-assured teen to resist a group and its leaders, especially if he really wants to belong,” says Robert Stieber, an adolescent psychologist in San Diego. If you are a parent, it is imperative to talk about hazing with your kids. Middle school age is not too young to talk to them regularly about the dangers of hazing. If your child plans on participating in a school sport, many schools organize Q&A sessions, which provide a plan to deal with hazing, if it were to occur.

Hazing is something that is absolutely not tolerated at Camp Shane. There are no initiation rituals of any kind. Although there is a wide age-range at camp, campers generally stay with other children their own age for their duration of their time at camp. All campers have the same goal in mind: to lose weight, get healthy, and learn about nutrition and exercise. Keeping this in mind, our campers are non-judgmental towards one another and tend to make very long-lasting friendships. Hazing and bullying are very serious subjects and if these incidents were ever witnessed on our camp grounds, we would take care of it immediately. It is our responsibility to make sure that everyone is safe and has the best experience possible.

For some tips about hazing, the article suggests visiting Stophazing.org, Hazingprevention.org, Insidehazing.com, and Mashinc.org (Mothers Against School Hazing). To find out more about Camp Shane weight loss camp for children, visit www.campshane.com.