[title]Safer Than Bodyslamming[/title][sub]Giving Kids a World of Choices for Addressing Bullying[/sub]
[copyright][download][/download][hr]The news has been full of the story about the video of the boy in Australia who body slammed another boy who had just punched him twice. Sadly, for years, this boy had felt victimized by bullying almost every day at school and as if adults there had ignored his pleas for help. He felt alone and as if, in the moment captured on film, he had to fight back because he felt that he had no other way to protect himself!
Based on the 40 seconds of video of the actual incident and conflicting perspectives the boys, it is hard to know exactly what happened. What we do know is that all of the young people in this incident, including the ones egging the fight on, filming and watching instead of getting help, would have been better off with safer choices. Fortunately, the boy who was punching and got slammed down onto the pavement was not seriously injured or the reactions would probably have been very different.
Adults need understanding and skills for how to intervene and how to encourage children to speak up. Children and teens need a community of choices for addressing bullying, for managing angry feelings in a safe way, for building healthy relationships, and for being persistent in finding adults who WILL listen and will help.
In our workshops, children (and adults) often say that nobody has listened to a safety problem. They say they feel empowered when we practice with them HOW to tell in a way that will get someone’s attention – and also HOW to keep asking until someone does something about their safety problem and HOW to find the right people to talk to.
We also teach HOW to set boundaries including yelling loudly instead of enduring silently and HOW to dis-engage in a powerful, respectful way. When boundaries, leaving, and getting help just don’t work, we teach bullying self-defense tactics such as a soccer kick to the shins or a heel palm to the solar plexus, which are safer choices than a body slam.
Even more importantly, we teach adults HOW to address bullying issues through building awareness, understanding, and skills as well as how to stop bullying in the moment without shaming anyone.
Kidpower’s bullying prevention resource page offers free articles, videos and podcasts; low cost publications including our e-book Bullying – What Adults Need to Know and Do to Keep Kids Safe; and workshops, coaching, and training local and long distance.
Concern about bullying has gone on for decades and yet the importance of the issue seems to be “rediscovered” again and again. At least many more people are saying that this behavior is wrong – yet schools and organizations, families and communities, still have difficulty making a commitment to doing what it takes to change. Here is Erika Leonard’s passionate article about Turning Bullying Prevention Policies Into Powerful Action that addresses some of what gets in the way.
