3-year-old girl told mom she frequently got bullied at daycare—then ‘Batman’ stepped in to change her life
It can be quite hurtful for parents to learn that their child is being bullied. However, one mom was both hurt and stunned when she learned that Kindergarten students from her daughter's class were bullying her. It all began when the mom, Erica Calculli, noticed a few marks on her daughter's face. But she let it pass as she didn't think it was a big deal. A few days later, Erica noticed bruises and a black eye and knew something was really wrong. She pressed for details and reached out for help, per a Facebook post by The Batman of Spring Hill.
"One day, Lydia's mom spotted some marks on her daughter's face and just resigned herself to believe that some of the kids at the nursery in Florida were just roughhousing a bit," the post explained. But then Lydia came home with a black eye and bruises and told her mom that she was being bullied. "She told me that a bunch of girls and one boy hit her and a girl threw a shoe at her eye," Erica revealed. Lydia's behavior at home had started changing, too, because of the bullying. "Lydia was once a very happy and bubbly little girl. Now she was turning angry and violent with her mom." A concerned Erica shared the issue with people on social media and hoped for help.
A man called Jack Asbury, an EMT who was known in the area for dressing up as Batman and reaching out to kids who needed to be cheered up, offered to help. "He asked if it might help matters if he put on his Batman outfit and walked Lydia into school." Erica agreed to that and Asbury came to meet Lydia in his costume on August 28, 2019. He asked her if she could walk her to class. "She grabbed him by the hand and led the way." The children were shocked by the sight and started calling for him. "And he told all those in the class that Lydia was his very best friend. And that left quite an impression among them, the lesson being: Friendship."
"The next day, one of the children in the class walked up to Lydia when she got there and led her into the classroom, saying, 'Hi, best friend, Lydia.' And it made Erica cry. Since then, everything has been just fine," the post concluded. "While beside her, I looked at [her classmates] and told all of them that she is my very best friend and I would be back to check on her," Asbury told Inside Edition. Before Asbury stepped in, the bullying had gotten so bad that the little girl had refused to go to daycare. "I gave her the superhero dress and explained how she was brave like Supergirl and would love her to be my sidekick." A year after that, Asbury was excited to see what all he could accomplish with his Batman alter ego, per a post on Facebook.
"I am so grateful for this man. Lydia hasn’t stopped talking about Batman and she definitely got some fans at daycare this week," Erica wrote on Facebook, per Tampa Bay Times. A study conducted on 208 kindergarten teachers found that there is an increasing need to train kindergarten teachers on how to deal with bullying in those environments. It was discovered that there was a lack of courses in that area. The study concluded that bullying can be reduced by avoiding comparison between children and by encouraging them to become friends with each other.