Bullying Prevention
October is national Bullying Prevention and Awareness month, in which we spend a little more time educating students, teachers, and parents on what bullying is and how we should handle bullying situations. During the month of October, students and teachers will be involved in many different activities centered around promoting bullying prevention and awareness. During the last week of the month, we will have a fun "Spirit Week" full of themed days (ex. Mustache Monday - I mustache you to be bully free, etc.).
Defining Bullying
The Stopbullying.gov website (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/index.html) offers this definition about bullying:
“Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems. In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
What should parents know and do about bullying?
· If your child talks to you about bullying listen and offer support. Sometimes children are reluctant to tell parents about bullying for fear of a potential reaction or not being taken seriously. Reinforce to your child that they are doing the right thing by telling you.
· Let someone at school know. It’s surprising how often a parent brings up to school staff (teacher, administrator, and/or counselor) that their child was being bullied and no one at school was aware of the situation and therefore couldn’t offer assistance. Encourage your child to seek out help at school as well and remind he/she who those support people are.
· Remind your child that fighting back or bullying back is not the answer. In certain situations it’s OK to stand up to the bully, but the child must be in a safe situation.
· If your child reports that another student is being bullied encourage him/her to report it to an adult at school. Remind your child that they are doing the right thing by speaking out against bullying.
With regard to bullying, knowledge really is power. Empowering our children to know what to do, who to talk to and the knowledge that they are supported if they are bullied really CAN make a difference.
WCPSS has additional information and resources at the following site:
http://www.wcpss.net/parents/bullying.html
October is national Bullying Prevention and Awareness month, in which we spend a little more time educating students, teachers, and parents on what bullying is and how we should handle bullying situations. During the month of October, students and teachers will be involved in many different activities centered around promoting bullying prevention and awareness. During the last week of the month, we will have a fun "Spirit Week" full of themed days (ex. Mustache Monday - I mustache you to be bully free, etc.).
Defining Bullying
The Stopbullying.gov website (http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/index.html) offers this definition about bullying:
“Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems. In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
- An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
- Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
What should parents know and do about bullying?
· If your child talks to you about bullying listen and offer support. Sometimes children are reluctant to tell parents about bullying for fear of a potential reaction or not being taken seriously. Reinforce to your child that they are doing the right thing by telling you.
· Let someone at school know. It’s surprising how often a parent brings up to school staff (teacher, administrator, and/or counselor) that their child was being bullied and no one at school was aware of the situation and therefore couldn’t offer assistance. Encourage your child to seek out help at school as well and remind he/she who those support people are.
· Remind your child that fighting back or bullying back is not the answer. In certain situations it’s OK to stand up to the bully, but the child must be in a safe situation.
· If your child reports that another student is being bullied encourage him/her to report it to an adult at school. Remind your child that they are doing the right thing by speaking out against bullying.
With regard to bullying, knowledge really is power. Empowering our children to know what to do, who to talk to and the knowledge that they are supported if they are bullied really CAN make a difference.
WCPSS has additional information and resources at the following site:
http://www.wcpss.net/parents/bullying.html