Dear Editor,
Last week I read an excellent article on combatting bullying in the Calgary Herald, as well as the recent report in the Western Wheel on mutton busting – a “family friendly” event engaging small children and their guardians at the Okotoks Pro Rodeo in Millarville.
The bullying article emphasized the need to encourage empathy and compassion from a young age. I think it is imperative that we view these two stories together.
Educators, teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists and physicians have consistently described the damaging effect of events like “mutton busting” on the health and development of children. The child’s fear is dismissed, their instincts for compassion ignored, but the desires of the adults – the ones with power – become most important.
As a pediatrician, who has lived in Okotoks for 42 years and raised my children here, I feel I must contribute. These children, barely above toddler age, are not given the appropriate information, nor do they have the capacity to consent to these events.
They do not understand that sheep, domesticated or wild, are flight animals: they will not fight, and once something clings to their back, they instinctively kick into prey/predator mode. These animals (often also young, and reminiscent of the kids’ books and stuffies) are terrified and scared for their lives; kids can feel this, though they may not be able to make sense of it.
Compassion or empathy are not solely taught – it is part of the beauty of our innate nature. Most healthy children that age, nurtured to give and to care, would receive enjoyment – and valuable lessons in community – through interactions rooted in kindness and care: feeding the sheep, having them come to them in a trusting way, seeing them enjoy gobbling treats and feeling their warm breath on their small hands.
Yet with busting, they hear cries of fear, experience adults encourage insensitivity, and are put on display in an occasion that scares, confuses and goes against their smart empathetic instincts. It is void of care, affection or contemplation of the difference and sameness between people and animals.
Their parents want to introduce their children to the rodeo circuit, want them to win, be the best, the toughest, and want them to be admired – regardless of what the small child wants or feels.
A statement that stood out to me in the Calgary Herald article: “Help your children to understand that strong people stand up for themselves, but the strongest people stand up for others.”
These kids are used like sporting equipment, as are the animals. From this experience, they are led to believe their feelings and safety — along with the feelings of other children, and other animals — do not matter. Like the animals, they are forced to do what they do not want to do for the purpose or entertainment. They are at the whim of the most powerful. This is called bullying.
Gabriele Barrie
Okotoks
