The new school year is an opportunity for parents and teachers to put fresh emphasis on bullying prevention by supporting the development of healthy social groups and friendships.
Here are some daily tips for getting the school year off to a good start. These “press the reset button” ground rules also work well at the start of a new semester or outside school hours – for after-school teams or group activities. They work at home, too – anytime you want to clear the air and start fresh.
We’ll post a new tip each day, adding to our bullying prevention “toolkit”. Check back daily!
Click here for all Bullying Prevention Tips.
20 Tips For Bully-Free Schools – Tip #9
Plan Inclusive Parties & Social Activities.
Holidays, celebrations and parties can create huge (and unintended) opportunities for social exclusion and hurt feelings, especially the more “important” the event is. Keep the spirit of celebration, but skip the over-the-top dancing elephants. Lots of smaller, relaxed get-togethers make it easier to include everyone. When planning parties, find ways to include the whole class or group in the celebration and avoid party formats that exclude most or some of the class. Don’t put kids in the position of having to hide invitations that only half the class receives. (See “Bullying Epidemic”, Chapter 10, Tools We Can Use, for many cost-effective, multi-family and whole-class suggestions for inclusive birthday parties).
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