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Teen bullied for loving books gets an avalanche of support from those who love reading, too

A tweet from his sister has already been liked more than 180,000 times.

via Analysees Consulting / Twitter

Callum Manning and his favorite books.

There are few more fulfilling hobbies than having a love of books.

Reading isn't just a great way to have a good time. Reading increases brain connectivity, makes people more empathetic, reduces depression symptoms, improves vocabulary, and may even cause you to live longer.

It's a huge benefit for a child's development as well. According to Parent.com, reading "stimulates the side of the brain that helps with mental imagery, understanding, and language processing, and that brain activity."

Sure beats wasting time playing video games.

Thirteen-year-old Callum Manning wanted to share his love of reading with the world, so he created an Instagram account where he posted photos of the books he's read. It started with a post about Stephen King's "The Shining."

"So I guess I'm going to start this account off with one of my favourite books, Callum wrote. "This book was the first book I read in 1 day. And I was like 10. So yeah it scared me."

See on Instagram

He would go on to fill his pages with books such as "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley, "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, "1984" by George Orwell, and current classics such as "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin and "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by J.K. Rowling

Kids Callum's age can be exceptionally cruel. A group of them created a group chat where they bullied him for his love of books and then invited him to join. After subjecting him to emotional abuse, they kicked him out of the chat.

"I don't tend to cry that often but I think that was the first time in a while I've actually cried," Callum told PA Media.

His older sister, Ellis Landreth, was understandably upset about the cruelty, so she tweeted about the group chat, hoping about "20 or 30 of my friends [would] like a few of his posts or follow him or give him some words of encouragement."

Her tweet would go viral, receiving over 180,000 likes.

Can\u2019t believe how awful kids are. My little brothers made an Instagram reviewing and talking about books and kids in his new school have seen it and have created a group chat calling him a creep slagging him off about it and added him to it so he could see pic.twitter.com/wuuj2XlO34
— Ellis (@Ellis) 1582972178

She was bombarded by responses from people who wanted to support her brother.

I think the love from all around the world has probably let him know he isn't alone. But all the interesting people I know were once considered weird kids with books. Including me.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) March 2, 2020

I've followed him and dropped him a little message but I'd love to buy him a book or send him over an amazon gift card - I'm sure he has a lot of books on the way but please DM me if there's any book he doesn't have 😊
— beffy (@beffybadbelly) March 1, 2020

Just a few hours after the tweet, Callum received thousands of followers on his page. In just three days, he's up to nearly 400,000 followers. He's also received countless messages of support through the page.

English novelist Matt Haig sent Callum a collection of books, adding: "Hey let's all follow Cals Book Account on Instagram and show him some support." A book store near Manning's home in northeast England promised him a book on the house.

Callum's story was shared on Instagram by authors Caroline Kepnes and Malorie Blackman.

The teenager received over 15,000 messages in his DMs. "He's absolutely overwhelmed," Landreth told CNN. "He can't even get through all his DMs."

Callum's mother is over the moon about the response. "She's so happy people are spreading positive messages about these issues," Landreth said. "No matter how small some things seem, they can stick with kids forever."

This article originally appeared on 03.04.20

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teen bullied for loving books

Family

Why it's important for parents to add a touch of realism to help their kids reach their goals

A bit of honesty goes a long way.

via RDNE Stock Project/Pexels

A mother makes cookies with her 2 children.

One of the most important parental goals is raising a child who can achieve their dreams. But no matter how smart or talented someone may be, a big part of achieving our goals is knowing how to put them into action.

Far too many people have lofty dreams but fall short because they get discouraged or don’t know how to create a map to achieving them. As the famously prolific author Stephen King once said, "Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work."

So, how do parents prepare their children for success? According to research, it’s essential to paint a realistic picture and to prepare them for setbacks.

A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says, “Rather than acting as cheerleaders giving facile encouragement, leaders ... might serve (others) better by providing a more sobering description of the challenges."

If your child’s goal is to make $100 with a lemonade stand, you should cheer them on and be as supportive as possible. But you should also let them know there may be some pitfalls along the way. There may be days when business is slow because no one is driving up the block. Some people who stop by the stand may not buy anything because they don’t have cash. Others may visit the stand and say they will come back but never do.

Some kids selling lemonade.

via Canon_Shooter/Flickr

That way, when the child runs into difficulty, they don’t feel like giving up. Instead, they know that it is all part of the process of earning $100.

Simply put, when you think something will be easy and then discover it's not, it's normal to feel like giving up. But if you anticipate challenges from the start, it's much easier to find the determination to work through them.

The Boys and Girls Club of America has similar advice for parents. Children know that adults often set goals and achieve them. However, because they are removed from the process, they may not know that achieving those goals often involves setbacks and unforeseen challenges.

So, when you set a goal for yourself, bring your child along on the journey so they can experience it first-hand. It will give them more confidence to pursue their own goals.

“Be open with them throughout the process, share what steps you’re taking to achieve your goal and be candid about setbacks and changes,” the Boys and Girls Club writes on its blog. “These conversations can be casual, but they show how much work you’re putting in that your teen may not realize you’re doing, helping your teen understand how something is earned with time and effort.

Ultimately, one of the biggest parts of achieving goals is managing expectations. It’s much better to know that there will be hardship along the way than to be surprised by it.

The emotional journey of creating anything great requires crossing the dark swamp of despair..

Outsiders almost never see the crazy belief and persistence required to cross that chasm.. pic.twitter.com/iyZBKw5zE8
— Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) May 26, 2018

The emotional ups and downs in achieving a goal are perfectly explained in a viral meme called “The Emotional Journey of Creating Anything Great.” It shows how all great ideas sound exciting at first but can begin to feel impossible when the hard work kicks in. But once we make it through the “Swamp of Dispair,” things magically get easier.

The key is knowing that there is a swamp and pushing through it.

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parenting

We've all been there.

You get fired days after starting a great new job. That promotion you're pulling for goes to someone else. You’re turned down for a job even after acing the interview.

Rejection comes in many forms, so the list goes on and on.

When you’re still reeling from the sting of rejection, it’s hard to see any kind of positive outcome. Instead, it’s easier to let yourself get pulled into a whirlpool of negativity, doubt, and self-criticism.

But it’s important to realize that rejection happens to everyone, especially those who eventually succeed.

Want some examples?

Here are seven inspiring quotes from successful people that will help you bounce back from rejection:

1. "I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat." — Sylvester Stallone

GIF from "Rocky."

In the mid 1970s, Sylvester Stallone was a broke and unemployed actor. With a mere 100 bucks in the bank, he sat down to write the now classic film "Rocky."

When it became a success, his fortunes changed overnight. In the bleakest of circumstances, he had the drive to keep going rather than give in to defeat.

2. "Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." — J.K. Rowling

Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images.

By now, we all know that J.K. Rowling once lived on welfare as a single mother in Scotland. At her lowest point, she sat down to pen the "Harry Potter" series. The manuscript was rejected several times before getting published but went on to become a blockbuster success.

3. "I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." — Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is an undeniable basketball legend. But as a young, up-and-coming high school athlete, he didn't initially make the cut for the varsity basketball team. He used this early rejection as motivation to become the iconic athlete we know today.

4. "Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." — Arnold Schwarzenegger

Photo by Lennart Preiss/Getty Images.

Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed past his early struggles as a poor Austrian immigrant to become an accomplished movie star, body builder, and, yes, politician.

5. "Rejection is the greatest aphrodisiac." — Madonna

Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for J/P HRO.

Madonna was once a struggling musician living in New York City when her early songs were rejected by Millennium Records. But she forged ahead and two years later released her debut album, which has since been certified five-times platinum.

6. "By the time I was fourteen, the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing." — Stephen King

Photo by Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images.

As a young writer, Stephen King faced constant rejection. His manuscript for "Carrie" was famously rejected dozens of times. But he kept writing to eventually become one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.

7. "Failure is another stepping stone to greatness." — Oprah

GIF from The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Before Oprah became the queen of daytime, she worked as an evening news anchor in Baltimore. But her bosses were unhappy with her on-air performance, and she was she was fired. She soon found another job as the host of a daytime television show, and the rest is history.

Each of these now mega-successful people managed to come back from the extreme lows of rejection.

Their stories show that even though rejection happens to us all, it’s often just a natural stepping stone to success.

Now go out there and use their quotes as motivation for your own success story!

GIF from "The Waterboy."