Bully Prevention

The headlines across the country on bullying has been both shocking and tragic.  From Massachusetts, Phoebe Prince, to South Florida and two horrific acts of school violence that could be linked to bullying, it is time bullying it stops.

A new study confirms other research that chubby children are more likely to be the victims of bullying. About one-third of kids in the USA weigh too much. Researchers at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor analyzed the bullying incidents of 821 children ages 8 to 11.

The odds of being bullied were 63 percent higher for kids who were overweight than their classmates of an average weight, according to researchers, and the bullies did not discriminate based on gender or economic status. Overweight boys were just as likely as girls to be bullied by their peers and surprisingly, those with good social skills weren’t spared from the bullying either.

As children struggle today with peer pressure and self-esteem, it is imperative that parents keep the lines of communication open with their children. 

Some schools are creating Anti-Bullying Clubs.  More parents, teachers and schools need to ban together to help start an organization in their schools. 

USA Today recently published an article, Chubby Kids Get Bullied More Often.  Obesity can effect not only your child’s physical health, but also their mental health.  Being teased and bully can literally destroy your child’s self-esteem leading to depression and worse. 

Isn’t it time you and your family take the time to learn how to eat and live healthy? 

First Coast News, Jacksonville is challenging families to participate in Kick It Up!  Kick It Up initiative to fight obesity and improve the health of all Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia residents.

Obesity and bullying are both preventable.  Education is key, learn to eat healthy, exercise and treat others as you would like to be treated.

One way is to sit down with your child and ask questions.  And then listen closely to their answers.

• Does anyone ever feel left out at home or at school?
• Why do you think you feel that way?
• Do you ever get the feeling other people don’t like you?
• What makes you feel that way?
• Do you think the person who made you feel that way may be trying to make you feel bad, because he or she feels bad?
• What do you think you could say to that bully that would make a difference in how she or he treats you?
• Do you ever stop to think about how you can handle someone like that bully?  

When you think of a bully, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  Is it someone on TV?  Someone you saw in a movie?  Someone you see every day?

•  A bully is usually not a happy person, not someone who smiles or is easy to get along with.
• A bully usually acts mean and angry much of the time and says things that frighten people, or hurt their feelings, like “Shut up!” or “Do what I say!” or “You’re stupid!”
• When we run into a bully, we may get scared and freeze, we may want to run away, or fight w/the bully, or cry.

But a bully is someone who has a problem, too.

• When we run into a bully, we are concerned about ourselves and our safety, and usually don’t stop to think about the bully.  That’s normal.
• If we stop and think, we realize that a bully is someone w/a problem.  He is not happy, and there’s probably a reason for that.  The bully may have had a bad day, a bad week, a bad year.
• You know, most bullies become bullies, probably because someone once bullied them.

Many of you may remember bullying incidents in your youth, and now in adulthood may think it’s just part of growing and it never really affected you. You would be one of the fortunate ones, for bullying has much too do with stunting a child’s emotional and intellectual growth, even if it never has more than minor physical effects.Please take this opportunity to educate yourself about an issue that affects 30%, or more than 5.7 million, of children and youth in the United States because that is how many of them are estimated to be bullies, have been the victims of bullying or both.

It just seems like every year the stories get worse when it comes to children being bullied. I saw on the news a few months ago that a girl committed suicide from being bullied. Then there was the mother who cyber bullied her daughters friend. We are looking for parents, students, and anyone that is interested in helping us on our crusade over the next 65 days to help improve the situation for children of our community. If you are interested or have nay ideas please respond to this post!

BULLYING STATISTICS
 
Thirty percent (30%) of U.S. students in grades six through ten are involved in moderate or frequent bullying — as bullies, as victims, or as both — according to the results of the first national survey on this subject.

Bullying is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to youth violence, including homicide and suicide. Case studies of the shooting at Colombine High School and other U.S. schools have suggested that bullying was a factor in many of the incidents.

RECENT STATISTICS SHOW THAT:

• 1 out of 4 kids is Bullied.  The American Justice Department says that this month 1 out of every 4 kids will be abused by another youth.  
• Surveys Show That  77%  of students are bullied mentally, verbally, & physically.
• In a recent study, 77% of the students said they had been bullied. And 14% of those who were bullied said they experienced severe (bad) reactions to the abuse.
• 1 out of 5 kids admits to being a bully, or doing some “Bullying.”
• 8% of students miss 1 day of class per month for fear of Bullies.
• 43% fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
• 100,000 students carry a gun to school.
• 28% of youths who carry weapons have witnessed violence at home.
• A poll of teens ages 12-17 proved that they think violence increased at their schools.
• 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.
• More youth violence occurs on school grounds as opposed to on the way to school.
• Playground statistics – Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. Adult intervention – 4%. Peer intervention – 11%. No intervention – 85%.
• ACCORDING TO THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS – School Crime and Safety:
• 46% of males, and 26% of females reported they had been in physical fights.
• Those in the lower grades reported being in twice as many fights as those in the higher grades. However, there is a lower rate of serious violent crimes in the elementary level than in the middle or high schools.

Teenagers say revenge is the strongest motivation for school shootings
 — 87% said shootings are motivated by a desire to “get back at those who have hurt them.”
 — 86% said, “other kids picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them” causes teenagers to turn to lethal violence in the schools.

Students recognize that being a victim of abuse at home or witnessing others being abused at home may cause violence in school.
 — 61% said students shoot others because they have been victims of physical abuse at home.
 — 54% said witnessing physical abuse at home can lead to violence in school.

Students say their schools are not safe.

Anti-Bullying Video