Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Anti-Bullying strategies for the eldorado hills community

Stop

Talk

Walk

What do you think of this anti-bullying advice? Some advice is better than no advice. This advice seems appropriate for preventive medicine. The first step towards anti bullying and bully prevention, but there is much more involved with the process. It's a great start. So what's the next step.

What do we do when things have escalated? What do we do if it gets physical? What if there are multiple people bullying at the same time? What if it's all online? What if they are stronger than me? What if the teacher or person I report the problem to doesn't listen or do anything?

We will be covering these questions this August and September at El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. We want to make a difference in the community. We want to empower our community. If you have any questions or concerns we would love to get involved.

El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

916.595.4064

Joe Bruscato shares anti-bullying strategy at Haskell Year-Round Academy

Winnebago County State's Attorney Joe Bruscato speaks with third, fourth and fifth graders at Haskell Year-Round Academy about anti-bullying strategies during a presentation Tuesday, July 29, 2014.

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JEFF KOLKEY/RRSTAR.COM |

Winnebago County State's Attorney Joe Bruscato speaks with third, fourth and fifth graders at Haskell Year-Round Academy about anti-bullying strategies during a presentation Tuesday, July 29, 2014.

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By Jeff Kolkey
Rockford Register Star
Posted Jul. 29, 2014 @ 11:47 am

ROCKFORD — A simple anti-bullying strategy — stop, talk and walk — was part of the message Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato gave Haskell Year-Round Academy students Tuesday morning.

Inspired by an anti-bullying program from the National Crime Prevention Council, Bruscato wants to help students confront bullying.

“When it comes to bullying, I think sometimes people are ill prepared to actually handle it when they see it,” Bruscato said. “Part of my presentation is to make sure they recognize bullying and they know who to report it to, but also when they are actually confronted by bullies, try to remember something that will keep them safe and get them out of the situation.”

On the fifth day of Haskell’s new alternative school year, Bruscato gave an entertaining presentation to about 120 third, fourth and fifth graders in the school gym. Bruscato plans to give similar talks at 11 schools this summer and fall in Rockford and Winnebago County.

He taught the students a little about what he does as an elected official and the county’s top prosecutor. He also showed a cartoon video featuring McGruff the Crime Dog helping a little girl named Samantha overcoming bullying at her ballet class.

“I learned bullying is not kind to other people,” said Tyler Gaines, a 9-year-old fourth grader.

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey

Friday, July 4, 2014

Cyber Bullies and Anti-Bullying

Bullying is an issue we will always need to address. There are many different forms of bullying but one form of bullying adults may not have experienced or had to deal with is cyber bullying. There is a growing need to educate yourself, your students, and children about this form of bullying. The first line of any type of self defense is awareness, and being aware of the potential cyber bullying that could take place is the first step to anti-bullying.

This article reports on the rise of bullying online. This increase of cyber bullying is most likely related to the lack of experience on the part of adults and the educational community on how to deal with technology. The very first step to preventing cyber bullying is addressing it before anything happens.

In the past bullying was addressed as something that could be witnessed by someone. Now it is more important than ever to train the students about "reporting" and not "telling" about certain events. Since cyber bullying is not under the watch of school faculty, it's even more important for students to realize the importance of reporting anything they feel might be related to bullying. This is essential.

An interesting aspect to cyber bullying is that there is hard evidence. Anything left online can be preserved and shown to a person of authority to help resolve the bullying issue. Having physical evidence, when used correctly, will help address the issue and come to a resolution between the bully and bullied.

El Dorado Hills Jiu-Jitsu

916.595.4064

CYBER BULLYING 'ON THE INCREASE'

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

PUBLISHED: 12:57 EST, 3 July 2014 | UPDATED: 12:57 EST, 3 July 2014

A fifth of children in Britain have been bullied, with cyber bullying now more common than face to face taunts, a major new study has revealed.

There has also been a sharp spike in the number of youngsters who are exposed to hate messages, self-harm and pro-anorexia websites, according to the research.

Experts warned the report, Net Children Go Mobile, painted a worrying picture of the dangers young people face online, and called for teachers, doctors and parents to step up their vigilance.

Sonia Livingstone, one of the report's authors, said smartphones and tablets meant children are on the internet 24/7, leaving them unable to escape bullies.

She said: "Bullying is happening both ways. It is happening at school and when they go home they are on Facebook and targeted. It is really hard to escape. That is the new phenomenon. Kids are on their Facebook 24/7.

"There is research that shows that if cyber bullying is anonymous then it is easier to lash out at others. And on the internet, people might think they are just having a bit of a laugh, but you can't see how the person on the other side is really feeling and responding.

"The internet is so fast, so bullying messages and images that are put out there can spread so quickly it is hard to contain them and it can escalate."

The study is produced by the EU Kids Online research programme at LSE university and looks at the internet habits of children across 25 EU countries.

It showed that in 2013, 21% of children in Britain aged nine to 16 had been bullied, with more girls than boys reporting being picked on.

For the first time, more youths said they were cyber bullied (12%) than picked on face to face (9%), with social networking sites such as Facebook being the most common forum for online taunts.

This is a significant shift from 2010 - when the last study was conducted - when 16% of children reported being bullied face to face, 8% on the internet and 5% on their mobile phones.

And more impressionable children are surfing the internet to find toxic websites that promote self harm or anorexia.

Nearly a third of 11 to 16 year-olds (29%) have seen potentially negative user generated content, with 23% reporting seeing hate messages online, while 17% have seen self harm sites.

This is a sharp increase from 2010, when just a fifth (19%) of children said they had seen negative content, with 13% reporting that they had seen hate messages, while 8% said they had seen pro-anorexia sites and 6% has seen self-harm sites.

Prof Livingstone branded this sharp rise "shocking" and warned these sites "normalised" self harm and eating disorders, and risked encouraging teenagers into hurting themselves.

She said girls beginning secondary school were particularly vulnerable to the damaging sites.

She said: "The pressure is on to be a certain type of person, to look a certain way, or think sexy looks a certain way. For some it takes them down a pro anorexia route and some find a thrill in self harming, and that is really upsetting.

"The internet gives this a visibility and almost a normalcy. It might be that one teenager in ten self harms, but if you go on a site and see a lot of people talking about it, it reinforces your perception about how common it is."

She said the internet "can be part of the solution" and called on teachers and parents to better educate young people to the dangers of the web.

Shaun Kelly, head of safeguarding at Action for Children, said: "Young people's increasing exposure to negative user-generated content, such as bullying via social media or sites about self-harming, is a sobering reminder of the potential risks to children online.

"Increased smartphone and tablet usage means parents and teachers cannot always supervise young people's activity, however talking to young people about internet use can effectively build resilience and protect against potentially damaging or disturbing content.

"Adults must show an interest in all aspects of young people's online activities, not just when they are concerned."