Do your bit for
Anti Bullying Week
19-23 November 2012

Make sure you get involved in Anti Bullying Week - whether you organise a workshop, stage a show or host a mini conference, it will all help and raise awareness of a great cause.

The theme for Anti Bullying Week 2012 is 'We're better without bullying'. Previous years have centred around themes such as 'Cyberbullying' and 'Being Different - Belonging Together'. All themes deal with the serious issue of bullying in any form. And this year Anti Bullying Week has been extended to a whole month - November is International Anti Bullying Month!

Verbal bullying can be just as damaging, if not more damaging than physical bullying. Why? Because it really attacks us mentally. Name-calling, constant teasing, abusive comments that attack a persons race or sometimes weight can have a long-term impact.

I remember as a child seeing incidences where someone would start bullying kids in my class. Sometimes the bully was just deemed to be 'playing rough' or described as being 'just a child' but now bullying is taken more seriously.

On the campaign website you can book your place to attend anti-bullying workshops, roadshows, download anti-bullying posters or send away for an anti-bullying DVD resource pack.

The activities of Anti Bullying Week can be supplementary to activities already going on in schools. The main thing is to ensure that the principles discussed in the week continue throughout the rest of the year and beyond. More importantly, get kids involved in creating their own events. Parents and teachers can help young people create an anti-bullying website, stage an anti-bullying festival or even upload an anti-bullying video to YouTube.

Even better, get the students involved in the school anti-bullying policy to ensure that they have a say in how to prevent and tackle the bullying effects which can last long after the event.

One of the biggest reasons bullying isn’t tackled is because victims are too scared to speak up. Bullying is a serious issue that should be challenged and the more it is, the better chance we have at beating it!

You might also want to check out Gerry McCarton's book "The House With No Snow". Gerry was motivated to write the book after his children were bullied at school. If you are interested the book is available on Kindle, or from Gerry's website, which you can visit by clicking here.

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