There’s little doubt that most kids witness bullying during their schooling, either as the victim, the perpetrator or as a bystander.
Over the years, I have seen many attempts to stamp it out but it seems we’re somewhat up against it. Let’s be honest, our politicians bully each other, the media bullies whoever happens to be the tallest poppy this month, families and workplaces all have their bullies, so why should school be any different?
However, three things of late have shone a little ray of optimism through my window.
Project RockIt is worth 5 minutes of your time to have a look at their website. They’ve been in the news recently following an announcement from DEEWR launching a new partnership between Headspace and the not-for-profit.
Another example of a proactive strategy is this offering from students in the Diocese of Wollongong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA5C-1N_r1w
Contact details are on the video, and learning materials are being developed to accompany the video.
And the last example of kids helping kids with regard to bullying is the Invisible Hearts Project.
These three strategies show how we can address bullying from a national, local or even individual school level and the emphasis here is on proactive, pro-social behaviours, rather than creating an Anti-Bullying policy.
Author: Dan Haesler, he is a teacher, writer and speaker at the Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminars He writes for the Sydney Morning Herald and blogs at http://danhaesler.com/ and tweets at @danhaesler
I agree what kind of example are adults setting to you people in how to treat people. Children hear what adults say and when they say that their colleagues and bosses are bullies.. In order for the bullying in schools to stop instead of drilling it into children I think adult needs to be educated in how to deal with people and being more emotionally intelligent.