Reading Corner: Help Your Child Triumph Over Bullying (& Activities)

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. Bullying in schools and playgrounds is increasing…and with the internet and texting, children are no longer safe from bullying just because they are home. As parents, we need to be alert to the signs of a bullying problem.

Child comes home bruised or cut.
Child comes home without some of his belongings such as backpack, books or jacket.
Child does not want to go to school.
Child has bad dreams or frequent headaches or stomach aches.
Child comes home by a longer route or doesn’t want to ride the bus.

Parents who suspect a bullying problem need to take immediate action to stop the bullying:

Speak with your child, asking direct and indirect questions.
Speak with the teacher, principal, guidance counselor and other parents.
Be supportive of your child.
Assure your child that he has done nothing wrong and that you will not let any harm come to him.
If your investigation does not uncover a bullying problem, don’t hesitate to seek medical advice.

Picture books are a wonderful vehicle for helping kids explore difficult issues. Here is a wonderful story that will provide a great opportunity to discuss teasing and bullying with your child.

School-Sanctioned Bullying: The Importance of Being Your Child’s Biggest Advocate

Since I’ve become a parent, I haven’t worried about whether or not bullying might happen…I’ve been flat-out waiting for it. Because, frankly, bullying is nothing new. We’ve all been through it at one time or another and while it isn’t fun, it’s reality. But this type of bullying came in a way that I wasn’t expecting. Yes, it was another kid. But the shocking thing was…the school was giving him the tools to do it.

Ballet Nouveau Colorado steps up nationwide with anti-bullying program

When President Barack Obama and the first lady convened a White House conference on bullying prevention a couple of weeks back, it was yet another echo of an issue that has been loud in the national dialogue since the Columbine massacre — and which picked up volume last year after a rash of teen suicides linked to bullying.

The recent attention to the issue helps explain why a Colorado company is seeing its own anti-bullying program go national in the coming months.

“Once the shooting happened in (Tucson), I think that’s when the White House really started to take it on,” said Julia Wilkinson Manley, director of Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s dance school. “And this is the stance we have at Ballet Nouveau — civility, politeness and respect.”

The Broomfield company, which has forged its artistic reputation on ambitious multimedia shows, has already exported its anti-bullying program to dance companies (and schools)

Anti-bullying effort pushed by President Obama

President Barack Obama on Thursday hosted a first-of-its-kind conference on teen bullying, thrusting an issue usually confined to the schoolhouse into a national limelight.

Obama joked that as “someone with big ears and the name that I have,” he wasn’t immune to bullying as a child.

He added that the purpose of the conference was to dispel the myth that bullying is harmless or an inevitable part of growing up.

“Bullying can have destructive consequences for our young people,” Obama said. “And it’s not something we have to accept.”

The conference, which Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Jared Polis used to push their agendas on bullying, grew out of a spate of deaths