Bullying is a bigger problem than ever these days — one that recent media attention only underscores without solving. The experts at Weekly Reader’s Current Health magazines have some solutions that really work. You can download the tip sheet with surprising facts on bullying, along with some easy and effective ways that parents, teachers, and kids can work together to end the bullying crisis.
They've made two special issues of Current Health available free for parents, students and teachers at www.weeklyreader.com/CHbullying. Even more information, expert advice, and resources can be found in the pages of Current Health Kids and Current Health Teens, such as defining what bullying really is (and isn’t), exposing the myths of bullying, and the special dangers of cyberbullying.
I had the chance to interview people who worked on this project - Erin R. King, senior editor of Weekly Reader’s Current Health magazines; and Jon Hisgen, a past national school health teacher of the year, educational adviser for Current Health and lead writer of the Wisconsin anti-bullying curriculum for elementary and middle schools.
1) Why do we need things like tip sheets and programs? Don't we already know bullying is a bad thing?
Well, the “tip sheet” itself is mainly intended for writers and editors like yourself, to help put the tips from our experts together in one easy place for you to then share with your readers.
Your second question, as to whether everyone agrees that bullying of kids and teens is a bad thing, has a “yes and no” answer. Some people think it’s a harmless or even helpful part of growing up. They think kids who are picked on simply have to learn how to fight back, stand on their own two feet, and so forth, and that will be a good learning experience for them. Others may think “kids will be kids.” Bullying has always been around, but what’s relatively new is the realization that bullying is abuse, pure and simple. It can leave long-lasting emotional scars, and can be threatening to one’s health and even life. It’s time to take bullying seriously.
Another thing we learned is that people are not always sure how to respond. We’ve found that in many cases, people who are on the sidelines actually have the potential to become what we call “helpful bystanders” — people who, in the words of New Jersey teen Ashley Craig, who I interviewed for the magazines about her anti-bullying efforts, can be “a hero in the hallway.”
2) How widespread is bullying?
One of the best sources for data on young people in all 50 states is the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance report (YRBS), which comes out every two years. The most recent report, from 2010, found that 19.9 percent of high-school students, or 1 in 5, said they were bullied on school property during the previous year. Obviously we know that bullying also happens off school property as well as online, so the overall number of kids affected is likely to be higher. It’s hard to get good survey data on younger kids’ lives, so we don’t know for sure, but experts say there’s reason to believe the numbers are higher for younger students. For instance, in the YRBS the number of 9th graders in the U.S. who were bullied was much higher than older kids: 24.5 percent of 9th graders reported being bullied, as opposed to just 13.5 percent of 12th graders.
3) I've seen tips for what to do if your kid is being bullied, and what to do if your kid is the bully, but haven't seen many tips on how to interact with parents of a bully. How should parents treat other parents whose kids are doing the bullying?
Great question. I asked the educational adviser to our two Current Health magazines, Jon Hisgen of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, to help answer this question. He says: “As the research talks about not having the bully and victim meet face-to-face in schools, trying to change the behavior of the bully, the same could hold true for parents trying to address the concerns of their children. My recommendation is to build a cohort of parents opposed to this behavior and start a community anti-bullying effort in general. If 85 percent of students are opposed to this behavior I would predict a similarly high number of adults also oppose this. Therefore my response would to have parents create a community wide anti-bullying effort.”
I would add: There are a lot of great resources online that parents can turn to, such as www.stopbullying.gov, which has a section for parents, and the National Crime Prevention Council, at www.ncpc.org, does too. There may also be state or local resources available to you, such as state government agencies or nonprofits and community foundations. And of course, you can check out all our information at www.weeklyreader.com/chbullying.
4) What can parents do if they feel like they’re getting no results in advocating against bullying?
Jon Hisgen also has some great advice on this question as well. He says: “Strength in numbers is the most effective anti-bullying strategy we have. Bring in a speaker to discuss the issue with parents and connect it to the types of situations happening in their school. Have them develop an acronym for the behaviors that you do not want to see in their school or community, such as the acronym RETHINK:
-- Recognize that no bullying in our community is acceptable.
-- Establish anti-bullying norms for the community.
-- Take action to immediately address electronic aggression at home.
-- Help support any anti-bullying efforts in the community or school.
-- Involve yourself in community anti-bullying advocacy.
-- Never too late to look at your own behavior as a parent. Many times we bully and model this behavior for our kids.
-- Knowledge is power. Learn more about bullying as a social-emotional barrier to move forward as a community.”
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