Tag Archives: School Bullying

3 Key Ways to Stand Up Against Bullying in Newmarket Ontario

Stand Up Against Bullying presentations by Bruce Langford of Stand Up Now Productions were featured at clearmeadowClearmeadow Public School in Newmarket Ontario.

We presented three assemblies including a Jk-3, grade 4-6 and grade 7-8 assembly. An overall anti-bullying message was shared with the students as well as three sub-messages emphasized throughout the shows.

The overall message was to show Respect. If you truly live your life with respect and truly show respect to others no matter who they are, I firmly believe bullying will decrease.  Show respect to family members, community, and at school. Show respect to teachers, staff and other students. Offer to help others as much as you can. I believe that is part of being a respectful person.

Ignore – It is important to understand that ignoring bullying behavior can take the power away from the person doing the bullying. Ignoring bullying  does not always work effectively, but it is important to understand it is one effective way to remove power associated with bullying.

Empathy – If everyone truly had empathy, then bullying would be reduced. Empathy is simply having the ability to feel what another person is going through. Being able to imagine the feelings of others helps us all to connect with each other.

Confidence – If you walk with confidence and show confidence in your mannerisms, in my opinion bullying will clearmeadow1be diminished. You will find yourself starting to do something about bullying behaviours. You might talk to a teacher, you may find yourself speaking to the person later who was being bullied. You might intervene and say something which will cause the bullying to stop.

Students at Clearmeadow School were very responsive during the assemblies and enjoyed the music, drama and videos. They reacted enthusiastically to the different dynamics of the three assemblies. Mr. Arnis Pukitis, principal at Clearmeadow School had Stand Up Now Productions visit his previous school, Whitchurch Highlands, and wanted to feature them at Clearmeadow.

Stand Up Now Productions helps children and adults learn effective strategies to deal with bullying.

www.standupnow.ca

 

Conquer Bullying and Conflict with Self-Forgiveness

To conquer bullying, let’s strive for less conflict in the world.  How to do that … self-forgiveness. (Read on to learn how we can calm the bullying epidemic by learning the concept of self-forgiveness).

stop judging yourself... forgive yourselfWhen you are comfortable with both your strengths and weaknesses, you radiate simple, unaffected humanity. Self acceptance, total self acceptance, means self-forgiveness.
When you forgive yourself and stop judging yourself, then you won’t judge others, and there will be less conflict in the world.

Bruce Langford is an anti-bullying advocate and speaker/presenter.
www.brucelangford.ca   telephone: 905-233-2102

Dr. Kenneth Shore’s Top 6 Bullying Prevention Tips

Stand Up Against BullyingStand Up – Make it Stop; Let’s End It. These are the words of a child describing the challenges of bullying. Why can’t we make bullying stop? Why can’t we just decide to end bulling? The answer is we can. It just takes a concerted effort with everyone moving toward the same goal to end bullying forever. Of course it is not easy. Definitely there are many who say bullying is part of being human and will never end.
The point is though, that no child should have to go to school in fear.  Every person should feel safe in their community and not fear being bullied. Children should not be nervous to go on-line for fear of being bullied.
These thoughts took me to Dr. Kenneth Shore’s book, “The ABC’s of Bullying Prevention”.
Dr. Shore is a psychologist and family counselor and has written this valuable book about bullying prevention. I’ve included his top six bullying prevention tips here.
1. Take it seriously. Shore says bullying often goes unrecognized by educators, or is recognized but isn’t taken seriously. “It’s easy for us as adults to dismiss kids’ concerns, but so often, issues or problems we perceive as small loom large for them.” The common thread in stories of bullied kids who attempt or successfully commit suicide is that schools dismissed complaints about bullying or didn’t treat them with the seriousness they deserved, says Shore.
2. Prevent it. Your local board of education probably has an anti-bullying policy, but words on a piece of paper won’t change things. Instead, a committee of students, parents, and school-site staff should work together to plan and implement a prevention program. Shore says studies show a 50-percent reduction in bullying in schools that adopt comprehensive bullying prevention programs.
3. Don’t treat bullying as exceptional. Shore says one of the mistakes schools make is they treat bullying prevention as a one-time activity. “You don’t solve bullying with one big assembly,” he says. Instead, hold several ongoing activities throughout the year to address the problem. “Make sure the issue is very much alive in kids’ minds.”
4. Meet in each classroom. It’s crucial that teachers make time for special classroom meetings held a minimum of four times a year conveying that bullying is unacceptable, and the school takes it seriously. “Seat kids in a circle and engage them in discussions where they can talk about times they’ve been bullied and discuss what that felt like,” he says. During the meeting, teachers should also talk about things they’ll do if they see bullying happening.
5. Zero tolerance. Parents of kids suspected of bullying need to find out what their children are doing and address it seriously. “Make sure to let him know it’s unacceptable and that you’re going to be monitoring behavior and if it continues, there’s going to be serious consequences. Let your child know you mean business and then try to understand why it is that he’s engaging in these behaviors.”
6. Don’t blame the victim. If your child comes to you and says he’s being bullied, “Don’t dismiss the concerns with a ‘sorry that happened, hope things go better tomorrow,’ response, or suggest it’s your child’s fault,” says Shore. Listen to your child, recognize that he’s a victim, and follow-up with the school in-person. “You want to be a pit-bull taking whatever steps you need to ensure the bullying stops.”

Bruce Langford is a Canadian bullying prevention advocate offering interactive, musical school assemblies on the topic.
http://standupagainstbullying.com