The Times interviewed Stephanie Bryn, from the federal Health
Resources and Services Administration. She’s the director for
Injury and Violence Prevention, in the Maternal Child Health
Bureau. Go to www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov for more
information.
The Times interviewed Stephanie Bryn, from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. She’s the director for Injury and Violence Prevention, in the Maternal Child Health Bureau. Go to www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov for more information.
What is the most important piece of advice parents, students and teachers should remember in preventing bullying at school?
Parents should check in daily with a child to ask questions about his or her day. And from these talks, they can recognize signs and symptoms of bullying. Building this type of daily relationship is crucial to catching a bullying problem before it escalates. Parents should also be able to communicate with a child’s teacher about their concerns at school.
Bullying among children is aggressive behavior that is persistent, intentional, and involves an imbalance of power or strength. Children and youth who are bullied need clear messages of support from adults. Teachers must recognize bullying and intervene appropriately. And be available to be a trusted adult to talk with children who are bullied.
Schools with anti-bullying policies often include students in the development of the Bullying Prevention Program. Students can be leaders by telling adults they want to be a part of the solution.
Why should we pay attention to bullying now?
As a community, it is important to create a safe learning environment for all children. Bullying is intentional peer abuse and leads to other forms of violence, and completely disrupts a child’s ability to learn.
Is it worse now?
We do not have information on bullying trends but certainly recent events have brought to light the extent to which bullying can harm children.
Increased access to technology has provided us with ways to communicate that can be advantage including learning ways to stop bullying. You can visit www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov for more information. But technology also seems to have intensified bullying behavior particularly with the advent of information and communication technologies such as social media, blogs, cell phones and even online games which makes it even more important that parents check in daily with their child to ask questions about their day.
