healthykids
BULLY BLUES BUSTERS Positive Ways to Promote Kindness
by Meredith Montgomery T
he National Education Association estimates that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fears
of being attacked or intimidated by other students. Bullying is more than a buzz- word. According to
StopBullying.gov, it’s defined as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-age children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Kelly Hughes, a school counselor at
Bayside Academy, in Daphne, Alabama, has noticed a dramatic shift in bullying behaviors. She observes, “Kids are not hitting or punching or pushing each oth- er as much as they used to. Rather, they are using in-person relational aggression such as hurtful words, glares, whispering and excluding individuals, exacerbated by social media and cell phones.” While anti-bullying legislation ex- ists in 49 states (Montana is the excep- tion), approaches for addressing this problem vary. Hughes says, “In my job, I spend a lot of time saying, ‘Just be kind.’ More positive results come from promoting kind behaviors and being
28 Collier/Lee Counties
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‘pro-hero’ than from simply discussing why bullying is hurtful.”
Calmly Taking Charge
Eric D. Dawson, president and co- founder of Boston-based Peace First (
PeaceFirst.org), also believes in the power of positive language. “We need to move away from harsh language that fo- cuses kids on what not to do and instead ignite their moral imagination—call on them to be problem solvers,” he says. To counter bullying in society,
Dawson suggests that we all need to be role models, and talk about and cel- ebrate peacemaking. “We can’t expect our kids to listen to us when we tell them to be peaceful and share if they then see us aggressively cut in front of others on the road or in the checkout line. We can also ask kids how they were peacemakers during their day, in addition to what they learned.” Founded in 1992 in response to the
youth violence epidemic, Peace First pro- vides programs and free online tools to
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