SAFE BY DESIGN · EPISODE 27

Report, Don't Retaliate

When someone is unkind to a child, every protective instinct says hit back. The better move is quieter, and it works better too.

Tara had been posting her ink drawings for months: lighthouses, street dogs, the view from the school bus. A small, kind audience liked them. Then, over one week, a single account started leaving comments under every new drawing, each a little nastier than the last.

On Tuesday evening she showed Riya and Dev, which was its own small victory. Riya was still reading when Dev, who had gone very quiet, picked up his phone.

He had screenshots of every comment, Tara's drawings and username clearly visible, in a public post on his own page, with a few sharp words. His thumb was over Post.

“Someone needs to tell them,” Dev said. “Publicly.”

Tara looked at the screen, then at her uncle, and said very quietly, “Please don't.”