In a recent interview with Oprah Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas said that being bullied almost made her give up gymnastics!
One of the most common effects of bullying is that victims will give up on what they love. This is an example of that. What’s amazing though is how she was able to overcome being bullied to do something incredible. (more…)
We know that bullying may lead to brain damage and even lower test scores, but this one’s new…
According to US News and World Report, a recent study suggests that bullying may raise the risk of suicidal thoughts. (more…)
You should be concerned… Very concerned…
Over 13,000 kids from 5th – 12th grade were surveyed. They were asked what steps they’ve taken to stand against bullying.
- 20% Hit or Fought the Bully!
- 27% Made Plans to Get Back at or Fight the Bully!
Concerned yet? You should be. That means that 1 in 5 kids who were the targets of bullying resorted to physical violence! Worse yet, 1 in 4 either seriously considered violence or some other way of “getting even”. (more…)
This is from a great article posted on the New York Times parenting blog.
A survey by Consumer Reports published in June found that there were 7.5 million users under age 13 (the site’s threshold for membership); more than 5 million were under 10. Over the year leading up to the report, a million children said they were harassed or threatened on the site.
Over at Science Daily they have an interesting article up reporting that there may be a correlation between bullying and student performance on standardized tests.
From the article:
The study found that schoolwide passing rates on standardized exams for Algebra I, Earth Science and World History were 3 percent to 6 percent lower in schools where students reported a more severe bullying climate.
It’s interesting to see possible proof between student performance and levels of bullying activity. It seems like common sense. If you’re scared or frightened of being bullied, chances are you’re not going to be as focused on your studies.
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The study cited in this article is in regards to the UK, but I still feel the results are interesting anyway:
The study found that while 22% girls had been subjected to cyber-bullying, 13.5% boys said they had faced it, according to the report.
While both boys and girls are getting cyberbullied, I think that the 8.5% increase with girls is significant.
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Massively multiplayer online games have really taken off over the past few years! For the new generation, online gaming worlds are as popular as the Sega Genesis was when I was a kid.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, players create “avatars” which are virtual representations of themselves. They then traverse the game world to complete various objectives. Players can play alone, or as part of a larger group depending on the mission.
The most notable of these is World of Warcraft, but there are also large communities of people playing RuneScape, MapleStory, Rift, Wizard 101, and a multitude of other games.
There are even online worlds aimed at kids, such as Club Penguin.
New on the block is Herotopia, a massively multiplayer online game aimed specifically at kids aged 6 – 12 years old.
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Yesterday I posted about the European Commission’s report that kids aren’t being protected online by social networks.
The frustrating thing is that although social networking can be abused, it also holds so much potential for constructive usage.
With that in mind, here are some recommendations for how to use Facebook in a positive way!
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I’m excited to see this… Check out the full story at WMFD-TV.
Here’s a quote from the article:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sent a letter to school superintendents around the state Thursday, urging them to adopt proactive bullying prevention plans.
The ACLU’s letter comes after several months of increased incidents of students across Ohio and the nation bullied by others. In particular, the ACLU encouraged schools to implement policies on how to address bullying when reported, education programs to prevent bullying, and comprehensive training for staff on how to handle bullying when it arises.
We’ve finally reached the last post in our series about how to take a stand against bullying! Today we’re going to talk about one final topic:
You see someone getting bullied. What do you do? Remain silent? Figure that the target has it under control?
Both of those options are bad. The victims of bullying often feel that they are responsible for what’s happening to them. They believe that it’s somehow their fault that they’re being bullied.
That just isn’t true.
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