Are we showing children what kindness is like?

I FEEL deeply saddened by the tragic death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir. It shines a harsh light on how bullying can devastate lives. Although much of the conversation now rightly revolves around harsher laws and accountability in schools, I want to add something that is often overlooked: that bullying doesn’t always occur just in schools, but can also appear in other aspects of a child’s life, and in a more insidious form.

When I think of my childhood, what comes to mind first is how I was constantly scrutinised by my maternal grandmother and aunts. I was regularly taunted for my weight, skin tone (I was criticised for playing netball because I became darker), hair, grades, you name it.