Secret Bullying Prevention Weapon? Friendship.
How to Make and Keep Friends: Tips for Kids to Overcome 50 Common Social Challenges is a new book out by Massachusetts based founder of Social Smart Kids, Nadine Briggs and director of the Peter Pan Center, Donna Shea. The book is one of their many collaborations, including their recently announced Social Success in School, […]
Schools, Parents, Internet Safety and the New Year
Internet Safety! Horrors! Where do we begin? Recently, I noticed a few basic disconnects when it comes to elementary school-aged children and teaching Internet Safety basics. There’s an information gap between school and home. Most schools now have a computer class. The computer teachers I spoke with talk about Internet Safety in class. But where […]
Bullying and Plastic Surgery
I’m not sure how I feel about this. How about you? Years ago, my first reaction would be, “This is ridiculous. Kids should be happy with what God gave them. Blah. Blah. Blah.” I thought that way until a friend opened my eyes several years ago. We worked in media together and we were watching […]
The Pain of Bullying for Parents
If you’re reading this and you’re a parent who’s child is being bullied, I have one thing to say to you. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that you’re feeling the pain of feeling your child’s pain. It’s true heartache. I was recently talking to a mom who is going through the devastation of watching her […]
Progress in Cyberbullying Prevention: Go California!
California has come up with a law that is simple and brilliant. Although it’s a California law, every parent from coast to coast should know about it. This law makes it a crime to set up an online account impersonating someone else for the purpose of causing harm. In other words, if someone pretends to […]
A New Year Brings New Possibilities in Bullying Prevention
Hopefully, more children won’t have take their own lives in 2011 in order for us to remain vigilant about bullying prevention. Three years ago after going to my first Family Online Safety Institute conference in D.C. and then the International Bullying Prevention Association meeting in Indianapolis, I came away with several thoughts: • There should […]
Teacher Training and Bullying Prevention
Good teachers humble me and I love schools. Every once and a while, I think about going back to school to get a degree in education. Why haven’t I followed through yet? Whenever I spend time just visiting a classroom, I go home and take a nap. I’m exhausted. I don’t know how teachers do […]
What’s Your Excuse for Not Having a Bullying Prevention Plan?
Tangled Ball would like to clear up a few misconceptions for all elementary schools who are reluctant to step in when it comes to bullying prevention. (Prevention being the key word here — meaning taking measures so something doesn’t happen.) This is what it isn’t: • It’s not admitting that you have a problem. • […]
Kids, Bullying, and the Holidays
This is a challenging holiday season for me and my family. It’s been a season of loss. No matter what, loss makes you sad and there’s no room for sad during the Christmas season. When things are going well, the holidays make everything that much brighter. But when that’s not the case, the holidays somehow […]
Teaching Empathy and Bullying Prevention
My last post talked about the elementary school “One for All” Leadership campaign. It’s simple goal is to have older kids mentor younger children. It’s not the whole answer by a long shot but it’s one of the answers in creating a more positive school climate. Although the older grades are asked to teach the […]
