We hear the stories all the time -- a child can barely get through the day because he's been harassed and tormented by mean texts, Facebook posts, or by a website created for the express purpose of humiliating him. Well, recent findings from the Cyberbullying Research Center reveal that "cyberbullying victims were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide compared to youth who had not experienced cyberbullying."
The devastating effects of cyberbullying were also confirmed by The Journal of Adolescent Health. Their newly-released survey results revealed that kids who are cyberbullied tend to feel "isolated, dehumanized, or helpless." Based on responses from over 7500 6th through 10th graders, the study also found that cyberbullying leaves the perpetrator unscathed, while the victim often ends up feeling depressed.
The National Crime Prevention Council has some excellent information on responding to cyberbullying. Click here to find out what you can do. If you are a parent or teacher, share this information with your child. Cyberbullying is a fast-growing, insidious epidemic that's affecting more kids than we even know.
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
No Kidding About Bullying Update
My warmest thanks to all the teachers across the country who've offered to participate in the research study of No Kidding About Bullying. There are so many people wanting to take part, and I wish we could say yes to all of you! However, there are no longer any openings for the study. We may do a Part 2 after this one, so look for future notices in upcoming blog posts and newsletters.
The book is available to everyone at http://bit.ly/no-kidding-about-bullying, and if you decide to use it with your class or group, I would love to hear about your experiences. I am about to launch a No Kidding About Bullying blog. Anyone using the book is invited to post their thoughts, questions, and writings (including student work). I will let you know as soon as the blog is up. By the way, click here for a free session from No Kidding About Bullying on helping kids deal with exclusion and rejection. You can download and use right now. If you are a parent, feel free to pass it on to your child’s teacher.
A few more items I know you’ll be interested in:
Parents of teens and tweens, are you looking for ways to navigate the minefield of these challenging years? For straightforward answers and up-to-date information you can use right now, listen to my latest podcast, “Talking to Your Teens and Tweens.” Go to either of these links:
http://vickyandjen.com/podcast_192.html
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/what-really-matters/id201098170
For an online interview I did with Education News on No Kidding About Bullying, and a free poem from the book, click here.
For my latest Examiner article, “Does Your School Foster Compassion and Kindness?", click here. You can post comments at the end of the article, and, as always, I invite your thoughts!
Lastly, to hear the poignant words of a mom whose child experienced relentless bullying, scroll down or click here read “The Frustration of Being Bullied.”
What are you doing to foster compassion over cruelty? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Post your comments, questions, and stories below.
To schedule a workshop or keynote for your school, parent group, workplace, or community,
e-mail Naomi@LearningPeace.com. The following topics are currently available:
- No Kidding About Bullying
- Cyberbullying
- Anger Management for Kids
- Anger Management for Teens
- Resolving Conflicts and Managing Anger
- No More Fighting
- Fostering Compassion, Kindness, Conscience
- We Can Work It Out: Communication Skills for All Ages
- Calming and De-stressing
- Bully-proofing Your School
- Helping Kids Who've Been Bullied
- Peacemaking for Pre-Schoolers
- Peaceful Parent, Peaceful Kids
- The Power of Kindness
- Creating Peaceful Schools
- Conflict Resolution for Educators
- New Teacher Training
- Fostering Acceptance
- Talking to Your Teen
- Building Resilience in Children
- Helping Middle Schoolers Handle Conflict
- Building Good Character
- Fostering Good Listening in Children
- Raising Compassionate Kids
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
The book is available to everyone at http://bit.ly/no-kidding-about-bullying, and if you decide to use it with your class or group, I would love to hear about your experiences. I am about to launch a No Kidding About Bullying blog. Anyone using the book is invited to post their thoughts, questions, and writings (including student work). I will let you know as soon as the blog is up. By the way, click here for a free session from No Kidding About Bullying on helping kids deal with exclusion and rejection. You can download and use right now. If you are a parent, feel free to pass it on to your child’s teacher.
A few more items I know you’ll be interested in:
Parents of teens and tweens, are you looking for ways to navigate the minefield of these challenging years? For straightforward answers and up-to-date information you can use right now, listen to my latest podcast, “Talking to Your Teens and Tweens.” Go to either of these links:
http://vickyandjen.com/podcast_192.html
http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/what-really-matters/id201098170
For an online interview I did with Education News on No Kidding About Bullying, and a free poem from the book, click here.
For my latest Examiner article, “Does Your School Foster Compassion and Kindness?", click here. You can post comments at the end of the article, and, as always, I invite your thoughts!
Lastly, to hear the poignant words of a mom whose child experienced relentless bullying, scroll down or click here read “The Frustration of Being Bullied.”
What are you doing to foster compassion over cruelty? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Post your comments, questions, and stories below.
To schedule a workshop or keynote for your school, parent group, workplace, or community,
e-mail Naomi@LearningPeace.com. The following topics are currently available:
- No Kidding About Bullying
- Cyberbullying
- Anger Management for Kids
- Anger Management for Teens
- Resolving Conflicts and Managing Anger
- No More Fighting
- Fostering Compassion, Kindness, Conscience
- We Can Work It Out: Communication Skills for All Ages
- Calming and De-stressing
- Bully-proofing Your School
- Helping Kids Who've Been Bullied
- Peacemaking for Pre-Schoolers
- Peaceful Parent, Peaceful Kids
- The Power of Kindness
- Creating Peaceful Schools
- Conflict Resolution for Educators
- New Teacher Training
- Fostering Acceptance
- Talking to Your Teen
- Building Resilience in Children
- Helping Middle Schoolers Handle Conflict
- Building Good Character
- Fostering Good Listening in Children
- Raising Compassionate Kids
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
Friday, September 10, 2010
Dignity for All Students Act Signed in New York
Kudos to Governor Paterson for making New York the 44th state with an anti-bullying law firmly in place. This Dignity For All Students Act safeguards kids from being bullied due to race, color, weight, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, religion or disability. Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, a sponsor of the bill said, "Clearly defined anti-bullying policies will help students identify bullying when it occurs and understand its consequences."
The bill requires all schools in the state of New York to be free of discrimination, bias-based bullying, and harassment of any kind. "We're going to take a historic step to make sure that all schools are transformed into havens of understanding and protection," Paterson said.
To see if your state is one of the 44 that has signed into law anti-bullying legislation, go to BullyPolice.org. You'll also be able to see how your state's legislation is ranked. If your state has not passed anti-bullying legislation, make some noise. The more voices speaking out, the sooner things will change.
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
The bill requires all schools in the state of New York to be free of discrimination, bias-based bullying, and harassment of any kind. "We're going to take a historic step to make sure that all schools are transformed into havens of understanding and protection," Paterson said.
To see if your state is one of the 44 that has signed into law anti-bullying legislation, go to BullyPolice.org. You'll also be able to see how your state's legislation is ranked. If your state has not passed anti-bullying legislation, make some noise. The more voices speaking out, the sooner things will change.
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Time To Build More Empathy in Kids
How's this for shocking -- According to a new study of 14,000 students by the Association for Psychological Science, kids who started college after 2000 have 40% lower levels of empathy than kids who preceded them. This was the largest study of its kind to quantify the decline in empathy, and it's pretty scary. No wonder we have this epidemic of youth cruelty and bullying!
Why is this happening? One of the causes, according to Psychology Today bloggers, Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz, authors of Born for Love: Empathy, the Brain, and Human Connections, is the fact that kids hardly ever play with each other anymore. "Without unstructured free time with playmates, children simply don't get to know each other very well. And you can't learn to connect and care if you don't practice these things. Free play declined by at least a third between 1981 and 2003 --right when the kids who hit college in 2000 and later were growing up."
Too much time in front of video games, TV's, and other electronic devises is another culprit, according to Perry and Szalavitz. "Even nonviolent kids' TV, research finds, is filled with indirect aggression and linked to increased real-world bullying."
Co-author of the empathy study, Sara Konrath, concurs. Conrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said, "The increase in exposure to media during this time period could be one factor. In terms of media content, this generation of college students grew up with video games. And a growing body of research, including work done by my colleagues at Michigan, is establishing that exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others."
So what can we do? Modeling and teaching empathy at home and cutting down on time with electronic media would be a good first step. Equally important is getting kids to play and talk with each other more. But beyond that, schools need to do whatever they can to foster empathy, respect, and kindness.
Click here download a free lesson that will help build empathy and conscience. If you're a parent, pass this on to your child's teacher. If you're a teacher, this lesson will help you start your students off with a dose of compassion, and the message that mean words hurt. What else do you think can be done to foster a more compassionate generation of kids? Let us know.
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
Why is this happening? One of the causes, according to Psychology Today bloggers, Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz, authors of Born for Love: Empathy, the Brain, and Human Connections, is the fact that kids hardly ever play with each other anymore. "Without unstructured free time with playmates, children simply don't get to know each other very well. And you can't learn to connect and care if you don't practice these things. Free play declined by at least a third between 1981 and 2003 --right when the kids who hit college in 2000 and later were growing up."
Too much time in front of video games, TV's, and other electronic devises is another culprit, according to Perry and Szalavitz. "Even nonviolent kids' TV, research finds, is filled with indirect aggression and linked to increased real-world bullying."
Co-author of the empathy study, Sara Konrath, concurs. Conrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said, "The increase in exposure to media during this time period could be one factor. In terms of media content, this generation of college students grew up with video games. And a growing body of research, including work done by my colleagues at Michigan, is establishing that exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others."
So what can we do? Modeling and teaching empathy at home and cutting down on time with electronic media would be a good first step. Equally important is getting kids to play and talk with each other more. But beyond that, schools need to do whatever they can to foster empathy, respect, and kindness.
Click here download a free lesson that will help build empathy and conscience. If you're a parent, pass this on to your child's teacher. If you're a teacher, this lesson will help you start your students off with a dose of compassion, and the message that mean words hurt. What else do you think can be done to foster a more compassionate generation of kids? Let us know.
What Do You Think? To leave a comment, click on the word “comments” (ignore the number that precedes it). Write your comment in the box, then click on “Select profile . . .” If the top group of options doesn’t apply to you, select “Name/URL” to comment with your name (you can leave the URL part blank), or select “Anonymous.”
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