Teacher Uses 2 Apples to Help Her Students Truly Comprehend the Consequences of Bullying

Using nothing but two shiny red apples, Rosie Dutton, a teacher at Relax Kids in Tamworth, UK, managed to truly convey the consequences of bullying to her class. Before the class began, Dutton repeatedly dropped one of the two apples to the ground, though to the naked eye, both fruits looked juicy and delicious. She started the exercise in class by saying mean things to the bruised apple and telling it why she disliked it — encouraging her students to do the same.

"Some children looked at me like I was insane, but we passed the apple around the circle calling it names. 'You're a smelly apple,' 'I don't even know why you exist' . . . We really pulled this poor apple apart. I actually started to feel sorry for the little guy," Dutton wrote in her post to Facebook, which was originally posted in 2016 but shared again on Feb. 16.

"I then cut the apples open," she wrote. "The apple we'd been kind to was clear, fresh and juicy inside. The apple we'd said unkind words to was bruised and all mushy inside. I think there was a lightbulb moment for the children immediately. They really got it, what we saw inside that apple, the bruises, the mush, and the broken bits is what is happening inside every one of us when someone mistreats us with their words or actions."

After sharing her own experiences with bullying, explaining to the children that though she's smiling on the outside, hurtful words made her sad on the inside, just the way the apple was bruised on its inside. Dutton ended her post with words that everyone — regardless of age — should remember: "The tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words."