The London Children’s Museum has partnered with Safe Futures Canada and  local agencies to bring you a one day conference  to address various youth issues such as bullying, internet safety, e- bullying and healthy kids.

BARBARA COLOROSO as our guest
on Raising the Ethical Child

Bullying Myths

Myth #1 – “Children have got to learn to stand up for themselves.”
Reality - Children who get up the courage to report bullying are saying they’ve tried and can’t cope with the situation on their own. In addition to offering support, teach them problem solving and assertiveness skills to help them solve conflicts.

Myth #2 – “Children should hit back – only harder. The bully will back down”
Reality - This could cause serious harm. People who bully are often bigger and more powerful than their targets. This also gives children the idea that violence is a legitimate way to solve problems.

Myth #3 – “It builds character.”
Reality – Children who are bullied repeatedly, have low self-esteem and do not trust others. Bullying damages a person’s self-concept rather than builds character

Myth #4 – “Sticks and stones can break your bones but words can never hurt you.”
Reality – Scars left by name-calling can last a lifetime. Teach kids to use their words before using their hands.

Myth #5 – “That’s not bullying. They’re just teasing.”
Reality – Vicious taunting hurts and should be stopped! That is the simple reality.

Myth #6 – “There have always been bullies and there always will be.”
Reality – By working together as parents, teachers, community and students we have the power to create change, influence attitudes about bullying. “It takes a whole nation to change a culture”. Shelley Hymel

 Myth #7 – “Kids will be kids.”
Reality – Bullying is a learned behaviour and children may be imitating aggressive behaviour they have seen on television, in movies or at home. We need to recognize that aggression towards another is violence and violence is unacceptable in respectful environment.

Please Join us in supporting CTV’s campaign

“Love is Louder” all week

http://shows.ctv.ca/LoveIsLouder.aspx

The BYSTANDER plays a huge role in shifting the power to support the target and put a stop to the bully’s actions. We hear the same concerns from by-standers all the time when it comes to why someone doesn’t want to step up to support the target: “I don’t want to become the NEXT target”. BUT, not being called a bystander can be as simple as just not being part of the bully’s audience. If the audience leaves, the show is over.

The bully, with all of the attention of the bystanders, has the feeling of being a celebrity. Think of it in terms of entertainment. If no one bought tickets to a concert, the concert would be cancelled. If no one bought tickets to a movie or play, the show would not go on. When viewers stop tuning in to a show on TV it gets cancelled. The same effect happens with bullying. Take away the bystander and the bullying stops too! If a bully is looked at as an offender, instead of being a bystander become a DEFENDER. If a bully does things to disable the target, choose to be an ENABLER to help the target. If a bully is a villain in the eyes of the target then instead of being a bystander and doing nothing, DO SOMETHING and in the eyes of the person targeted you will become a SUPER HERO!
You are the key to helping the target go from being a victim to becoming a VICTOR!!!

We spent our morning with 800 students at St Christopher’s and our afternoon at St Patrick’s High School with about 700 students.  Each group of students benefited from Social Networking 101.  Our evening was spent with a large group of parents to learn about internet safety and social networking.  We also had the pleasure of a little guided tour of Sarnia with our new friend Sharon.

We look forward to returning to Sarnia to work with other schools and revisit the famous chip truck under the bridge.

Come up with a family plan about how you will respond to cyber bullying.
As a family, come up with a plan that everyone can promise to stick to:
•Start with a conversation about cyberbullying — what it is and why people do it.
Encourage your children to report bullying to you. Don’t dismiss their problems and let them know that you will take action with them. They also need to know that if their strategies are no longer working, you will advocate on their behalf.
•Talk about how you as a parent will respond. Reassure kids that you won’t “freak out” (as hard as that may be) providing they are following the rules. Telling them to “turn off their phone”, or “stay off the Internet” doesn’t help. These connections are their lifelines to friends.
•Talk about, under any circumstance, bullying someone else or retaliation is not acceptable. Make it clear what the consequences will be
•Understand both your child’s school policy and its actual responses toward bullying
Some quick tips for kids
•Do not open e-mail or messages from someone that has been harassing you
•Delete comments on photo’s, walls and profiles…do your best to ignore them
•If you do read messages or wall posts, copy them, take screenshots or print them out
•Walk away from your computer and tell someone
•Block the person from MSN, Facebook or other social media
•Try not to engage in discussions at school the next day about comments that were posted
•Make sure to report any form of bullying. Take it seriously if you want it to stop

Check back often to see new tips, hot topics in the media and updates about Safe Futures Canada.  We are busy preparing for our speaking engagements in the fall and look forward to bringing you new and improved topics in the weeks to come.

Sonia