In support of Anti-Bullying Awareness Month, abcteach and Early Childhood News and Resources have collaborated to bring you insights from teachers, parents, and a social worker, to aid in your anti-bullying efforts. Our first blog covered the elementary classroom, discussing activities that lay the groundwork for healthy behavior and safe learning environments.
Our next article – “Can parents raise their kids NOT to bully?” – comes from Shara Lawrence-Weiss: mom, educator, and owner of Early Childhood News and Resources. Shara relays her personal experiences being bullied, the ways her parents proactively addressed bullying behavior, and how the lessons she was taught have been passed on, without direct intention, to her own children.
Shara’s Story
Below is a peek into Shara’s story. We invite you to view the full article on her site and, if so moved, encourage you to share your own experience.
When I was a kid, the term “bullying” wasn’t used all that much. We heard terms like “playground bully,” “mean kid,” or “angry kid,” but it wasn’t the epidemic it seems to be now. I attended private school from grades 6-8 in Oregon. I remember being called “Four Eyes” in primary school and “Wall” in Jr. High (meaning I was flat-chested). It got worse for me in High School…
My Parents’ Advice:
- • We were a faith-based home and my parents often talked about our responsibility to love others.
- • As a family, we gathered gifts for the poor year-round: single moms, single dads, seniors, children, veterans, kids of prisoners, and others. My parents taught us that no matter how little we had, we always had more than someone else. So we could always give. No matter what.
- • My parents told us that two wrongs never make a right.
- • More tips continued on blog…
My Teenage Son’s Life Lessons: (when asked what I’ve taught him)
- • How to count
- • How to be nice
- • How to use a toilet
- • To be generous
- • To not bully…
——
The last blog in our series walks into a special needs classroom and an alternative high school in suburban Chicago. We’ll share the personal directives given to LD children and their classmates, and the culture of a therapeutic learning environment.
Posted by Lindsey Elton, abcteach Team; and Shara Lawrence-Weiss, Early Childhood News and Resources