Internationally recognized author & educator for professionals, parents, and kids
Posts tagged girl bullying
Being Perfectly Imperfect: In the Words of Rachel Simmons
013 years
Rachel Simmons is one of the first people to inspire me to work in the field of girl bullying. I love what she says here to girls–encouraging them to own their feelings and accept their imperfections. I also love the practical skill set she encourages: giving girls a framework for analyzing what they can do better and what they did well in particular aspects of their lives.
http://networkedblogs.com/y0tH3?a=share
While you are checking out Rachel’s video, be sure to browse around the Toward the Stars site–it’s a brand new initiative launched by the visionary Ines Almeida. Her “tribe’s” purpose is to help reduce the threats to girlhood that crush girls ‘ true nature and potential. Her dream is to create a unique marketplace focused on changing gender stereotypes that cause girls to obsess over body image, keep them from taking leadership roles, and limit girls’ interests in sciences and math.
Highlights from an Interview with Trudy Ludwig
013 years
Check out these great excerpts from a recent interview about bullying with bestselling children’s author, Trudy Ludwig. She is the author of My Secret Bully, which I recommend most highly and center one of my chapters around in Friendship & Other Weapons.
http://www.naturallyeducational.com/2012/05/my-secret-bully/
I especially love the definitions of rude vs. mean vs. bullying and her highlighting of issues such as the power of allies and the importance of restorative justice.
What Parents Can Do About Cyberbullying
013 years
A good friend just let me know that last week, this article that I wrote for the Huffington Post was featured on AOL’s home page–very exciting! I hope it provides some helpful tips and strategies for parents, as they help a very tech-savvy generation become bully-savvy as well. Here’s an excerpt:
At not-quite-nine, I am still amazed everyday at how natural and intuitive technology usage is to my daughter and to all of her peers who have grown up with computers, cell phones, tablets and texting as part of their everyday lives. I am also aware, however, that things like Internet Safety, Cyberbullying and “Netiquette” may not register on her radar the same way they do on mine.
When she was very young, I worried about the unknown: online predators who could try to trick her into revealing personal information so that they could cause her physical harm. Now, in her tween years, I know that “stranger danger” is still a threat, but I spend more of my time worrying about the known: frenemies from her daily life who may use taunting texts, humiliating social media posts and viral videos to cause her emotional harm. It’s no wonder that when she begs me (at least once daily) for a cell phone, I feel chills run up and down my spine.
No matter how tech-savvy my daughter becomes, I am constantly aware that she is young and that it is up to me to monitor her safety and well-being with technology in the same consistent, diligent way that I ensure her well-being on a playground. These basic rules are our first line of defense in minimizing (I’m too wise to think that “preventing” is realistic) cyberbullying and using technology in safe, respectful ways:
To read about the six strategies I suggest to parents, please visit the HuffingtonPost or click this link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/signe-whitson/cyberbullying_b_1462459.html
Stop Bullying Workshops and Book Signing at Barnes & Noble
013 years
by signewhitson
in bullying
Had a lot of fun posing as a bestselling author yesterday! Special thanks to the parents and awesome kids who stopped by to participate in my Stop Bullying Workshops and book signing!
Talking about Bullying on the Kathleen Dunn Show
013 years
This morning, I had the great opportunity to join Public Radio host, Kathleen Dunn, and US Dept. of Education representative, Deborah Tempkin for an hour to talk about what parents, schools, and peers can do to stop bullying and cyber-bullying. While I much prefer being a writer…and being able to liberally revise my responses until I find just the right words…I did love the interaction with Kathleen and Deborah and with the callers who phoned, emailed, and tweeted their questions to the show. It was a lively discussion, sparked by the recent bullying-related suicide of a young man from Sioux City, Iowa.
Have a listen: http://wpr.org/wcast/download-mp3-request.cfm?mp3file=dun120424d.mp3&iNoteID=154970
The one thing I’ve been kicking myself about all day is my response to the two callers who talked about physical retaliations as being the best answer to the problem of bullying. I found myself a little tongue-tied during both conversations. The point I wanted to make–and that I do make when I have the luxury of writing on the subject instead of answering on-air–is that while physical retaliations may seem to solve the problem in the moment, they are not the mark of a civilized society and are never the kind of skill that best serve children in the long-term. I do believe with all of my heart that children need skills to know how to stand up for themselves, but never do I believe that revenge–particularly physical aggression–is an advisable response.
Yes, We Are Talking About Bullying More! That’s the Good News.
013 years
In both my scheduled workshops and my casual conversations on the topic of bullying, professionals and parents often ask me, “Is bullying really worse today than it was when we were kids?”
My answer to that question is an emphatic, “Yes.”
The 24/7 availability of cell phones, instant messaging, e-mails and social networking sites have intensified the impact of bullying, giving young people private ways to humiliate each other under-the-radar of adults and public ways to spread rumors and gossip to large-scale audiences.
To read the rest of this story, please visit the HuffingtonPost or click the link below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/signe-whitson/bullying_b_1433675.html
Broken: A Raw Account of Depression, Bullying, and the Helping Profession
013 years
The author of this piece, below, is a therapist, writer, and classmate of mine from graduate school. In this piece, he is raw and real and powerful, pulling back the curtain on one young girl’s desperation. This piece is about depression. It is about bullying. It is about hopelessness. And about hope too. Thanks, Roy DeWinkeleer, for being on the helping side!
As one reader reminded me when I shared this article on Facebook: you might need tissues for this read. As parents, we all share this deepest, most petrifying fear that this may one day be our child.
Fighting Back Against Bullies
0Yesterday, I had the pleasure of chatting with Todd and Laura Mansfield of Parenting Unplugged on Pagatim.fm about Friendship & Other Weapons and how parents can help their kids cope with bullying. If you would like to listen in, here is a link to the show!
http://www.parentingunpluggedradio.com/2012/04/11/fighting-back-against-bullies/
What Parents Can Do When Bullying is Downplayed at School
34213 years
In my conversations with parents of bullied children, an all-too-frequent recurring theme is that they say their reports to school are downplayed or downright ignored. I wrote this article for the HuffingtonPost in response. Please share with any parents you know who are struggling to help their kids cope with bullying.
FREE International Bully Prevention E-Zine MARCH Issue Now Available
23013 years
Check out the March issue of the International Bully Prevention E-Zine. This month’s free issue features great articles about what parents can do to help their kids cope with bullying and importance of role modeling by parents when it comes to raising kids who reject gossip and other forms of relational aggression. PLease check it out & pass it on.
http://www.imgstream.com/KnappStory/2012_03/IBPM_2012_03.html