Posts tagged cyberbullying

Great Video to Teach Kids about the Permanency of Online Posts

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In Friendship & Other Weapons, girls are given the opportunity to learn and talk about the role of social media in their lives and relationships.  This YouTube video is a great entre for teaching girls–and boys–about the permancy of what they post online–via Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, or even text.  “Once you post it, you lose control.”

Showing and discussing this video with kids is 99 seconds well-spent.

A Stop to Bullying Starts with Changing a Mindset

“Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

When it comes to the damage that bullying can do to a young person’s self-esteem (not to mention desire to go to school, academic success, relationships at home, etc), this old adage has been proven untrue a million times over.

The article posted below talks about the importance of changing mindsets when it comes to the real and lasting damage that bullying can do. It also emphasizes the role of technology in bullying and how important it is that parents are aware of how their kids are using technology to impact others.

In Friendship & Other Weapons, I dedicate a chapter to teaching kids skills for the ethical use of technology and social media. The chapter is available for preview on amazon.com. Please check it out, along with this great article on changing mindsets:

http://brick.patch.com/articles/stopping-bullying-starts-with-changing-a-mindset

Rachel Simmons Offers Parents Advice on Cell Phone and Social Media Limits

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Rachel Simmons, bestselling author of Odd Girl Out and co-founder of the Girls Leadership Institute (GLI), offers great insights and advice for parents on how to walk the fine line between stalking their children’s technology usage and taking a totally hands-off approach.  Her advice on effective limit-setting–and why limits are so important socially and academically–is great:

 

 

Jane Lynch on Being an Advocate for Bullied Kids

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If you haven’t seen it yet, please go to my Facebook page to check out Jane Lynch’s amazing, spot-on anti-bullying video.  My favorite part:

 

“Bullying makes children feel like they want to be invisible.  Let’s let them know that we see them, we are listening, and they can count on us to make their lives better.”

Turning Bystanders Into Heroes

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Try this activity to help kids understand how important their role as a bystander–er, HERO, is in a bullying situation.

Give a child 5 wooden craft sticks.

Ask him to write his name on the first one. Then, tell him to break the stick. The task should be easy.

Emphasize that on our own, we are breakable.

Next, ask each child to write down the names of three people who they know they can count on for friendship and support, on three of the remaining sticks. It can be a parent, family member, friend, or even a pet.

On the remaining craft stick, ask the child to write something that they are good at, such as a sport, art, or even being a good friend to others.

Have the child stack his four sticks, one on top of the other, then challenge him to again try to break the sticks. This time, the task should be impossible.

When I do this activity with kids, usually in schools or troop settings–the expressions on the their faces as they realize the strength of the stacked sticks is priceless every time. I know my point has been made. But I say it anyway:

 

“When you support one another, and have confidence in your own abilities, you become unbreakable. Keep these craft sticks as a reminder of how strong you truly are!”

 

My other reminder/mantra to kids, when we talk about bullying and bystanding, is that it is never OK to do nothing about bullying I have kids repeat the phrase.  I encourage them to shout it.  Sometimes, we see if the whole building can hear us!  I want kids to remember this truism.

This week, in light of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University, it seems especially important.

 

For more ideas and activites to help kids cope with bullying, please check out Friendship & Other Weapons: Group Activities to Help Young Girls Cope with Bullying, available November 15, 2011.

 

 

Girl Scouts Know How to Be Friends Indeed!

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This morning, I had the GREAT honor and pleasure of doing a workshop for about 120 Girl Scouts and their moms (ages 5-11), based on some of the lessons and activities in Friendship & Other Weapons.  We focused on specific ways that the girls can become allies to someone who is being bullied both before, during, and after bullying situations.  In less than 10 minutes, the amazing girls came up with over 60 ways to be a friend to someone who is being bullied!  They also learned that:

It is never OK to do nothing about bullying!

Here are a few of the “How to Be a Friend” and “Stop Bullying” posters they left with me to share with you.  Please check the Bullying in Elementary School link to see more and to find out how to schedule a Friendship & Other Weapons workshop for your group of girls.

 



How Friendship & Other Weapons Came to Life

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This morning, an interviewer asked me how the idea for Friendship & Other Weapons came to be.  Thought it was worth sharing with you as well…

 

My previous book, How to Be Angry, started with the fundamental premise that anger is OK; its 15-session curriculum is all about giving children, tweens and teens specific assertive skills to express their anger in constructive, relationship-building ways.  After writing the book, it became obvious to me that there is a large group of young people who are shut out from this basic presupposition that anger is a normal, natural human experience.   Millions of young girls in the United States grow up immersed in a social universe in which “being angry” is equated with “being bad” or, at best, not “being nice.”  (more…)

From “Happy to Be Me” to Insecurity

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I was a big fan of Sesame Street as a kid and am a bigger fan now, as a Mom.  Check out how the show is approaching the problem of bullying with young children–focusing on prevention (where we have a prayer) rather than relying on intervention (where we constantly swim upstream).    LOVE it!

 

http://www.shapingyouth.org/?p=17182

Social Combat in Schools: Bullying on Anderson Cooper 360

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As part of his ongoing series this week on the subject of bullying, Anderson Cooper talks to sociologist Robert Faris and author Rachel Simmons about the concept of “social combat,” and the culture of victimization in schools. This is a really interesting clip, revealing which kids tend to be most involved in bullying and which ones tend to stay above the fray. Revealing.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2011/10/10/ac-bullying-faris-simmons.cnn

Bullyproofing – Four Steps to Build Your Daughter’s Personal Power

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What happens when harmless spats over sharing toys are replaced by cruel cyber-rumors about liking boys? Will your daughter know what to do when pint-sized pushes evolve into painful tween shoves? When the simplicity of forming a friendship just by climbing the same jungle gym is replaced by the intricacy of scaling middle-school social ladders, how can you teach your daughter to stand up to bullies?

http://www.jkp.com/blog/2011/10/article-signe-whitson-bullyproofing-four-steps-to-build-your-daughters-personal-power/

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