![]() ![]() Some of the books deal with bullying head-on. Here are some of the books we recommend for strengthening social and emotional learning. They give kids a chance to reflect, think about their own beliefs and social interactions, and talk with their classmates and family about thorny issues. The messages in these stories can be subtle and powerful. And sometimes it’s about leaning on an understanding adult to help your classmates see your true strengths. Sometimes it’s about learning to find your own individual voice. Sometimes it’s as simple as inviting the shy new kid to join in and play. Some children’s books tackle the tricky topic of how to handle conflicts at school or in the neighborhood. What a powerful model for kids, especially when they’ve formed a personal bond with the vividly drawn characters. Through stories, children can meet characters who are dealing with strong emotions and who learn to manage those feelings in positive ways. Why is my classmate wearing a headscarf indoors? A beautiful picture book about choosing a new hijab for the first day of school can open windows. Children who can empathize are able to respond to others with thoughtfulness and understanding. There are excellent online guides and toolkits for schools to use, including Eyes on Bullying Toolkit (opens in a new window).Īt Reading Rockets, we believe in the power of books to help children see the world from different perspectives and build empathy. How can schools and families work together to stop bullying? It starts with creating a school culture that embraces and celebrates diversity and differences, has zero tolerance for bullying behavior, embeds social and emotional learning (SEL) opportunities in classrooms and school events, and provides guidance for teachers on responding to bullying in a direct, effective, and loving way - supporting the child being bullied, the bystanders, and the child who is bullying. The child who is being bullied feels the emotional or physical sting sharply and can feel powerless classmates who witness the bullying often don’t know what to do and the child doing the bullying is struggling, too, with anger issues and more. The internet can provide a shield for bullies to hide behind, but it certainly does not protect the targets of bullying. Increasingly (especially for older children), it is happening online, expanding the number of kids who get bullied and bully others. Social: using friendships to hurt, including excluding, spreading rumors, and turning friends against each other.Ĭyberbullying: using cell phones, social media, and online gaming to send and widely share hurtful messages or images.īullying is a growing problem, affecting our schools and our communities. Verbal: using words to hurt, including yelling, name-calling, taunting, insulting, and threatening to harm Physical: using physical actions to hurt, including hitting, pushing, kicking, and beating up And it involves a power imbalance, where the child who bullies usually chooses a classmate thought to be vulnerable in some way.īullying can express itself in these ways: It is repeated - a child who bullies often targets the same child again and again. Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Anna DewdneyThe Bully Blockers Club by Teresa BatemanMarlene, Marlene, Queen of Mean by Jane LynchThe Juice Box Bully by Bob Sornson, PhSpaghetti in a Hot. It is deliberate, done with the intention of hurting someone. And why has it existed for years and years and years? Because adult bullying is indeed a thing.Children tease and can sometimes play roughly, and caring adults can guide children towards kindness. There is something deeply comforting when we frame it in this way. It’s a painful part of the nature of things, and not your story alone. Unfortunately, it's how humans have been treating each other for generations and generations. This power dynamic is written about in some of our oldest stories (read: Cain/Able or Jacob/Esau). Everything that happens to us- for us- reflects nature: human nature or the nature of this world. ![]() But more than that, ‘ it’s not about you’ reminds us that in this life, nothing is ever uniquely about us- even the things that feel deeply personal. It’s about some unresolved difficulties on the part of the person doing the bullying. While it is often difficult to depersonalize, it is an important reminder that the bullying behavior is not about you. A friend at work informs you that one of your colleagues is self-conscious about their weight. I can try to stop the bully, but there is not much I can do. In it, she said the words “nothing is personal, nothing is permanent, and nothing is perfect.” I think we can use these words to reassure ourselves if we ever find ourselves in the midst of a bullying episode. When I see bullying, I run away and pray that I am not the next victim. I heard beautiful words recently from Bonnie Duran on the Ten Percent Happier podcast hosted by Dan Harris. ![]()
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