TAMPA, Fla. — According to the National Bully Prevention Center, one out of every five students reports being bullied.
“We see bullying, even at a younger age. Unfortunately, I see it happening younger and younger,” said Valerie Dickson, a mental health counselor at Apollo Beach Elementary School.
Dickson has served in that role for over 20 years. She says any child being bullied often has trouble concentrating in class.
“They can't focus on their work if they're thinking this child over here has given me a mean look, or they're telling other kids not to be my friend. Or I have to worry about being bullied when I go home tonight because somebody is going to send me a mean text message,” explained Dickson.
To help combat bullying, Champions for Children teamed up with the Hillsborough County School District and teaches fourth graders what bullying looks like. It’s all explained in a puppet show called “Kids on the Block.”
“Kids on the Block has been a program of Champions for Children for 30 years. We started in 1994 with the Hillsborough County School District,” said Brandy Gottlieb, the director of marketing & communications for Champions for Children
Gottlieb says that in just the last year, the anti-bullying puppet show has been performed in more than 100 schools and reached over 10,500 children.
“The shows are presented in such a way that is so age-appropriate. That really illustrates and animates through the lives of a puppet—scenarios that children would face. Whether that is being bullied or whether that's what a bully looks like,” said Gottlieb.
The puppet show also covers the topic of stereotyping and racism.
“We'll talk about ways in which you can work together with somebody who may have a difference than you, and then how that collaboration spawned something greater than what you thought it could do at the beginning,” said Rennex Franklin, the elementary school counseling services supervisor for Hillsborough County School District.
He says that after the show, the children get to ask the puppets questions. Later that day, they wrote a letter to them regarding how they felt about the performance.
“In the letters that they do disclose that maybe they've experienced bullying or they are going through something similar. Then, when we receive that letter, as a school counselor, we read it, and then we can offer our interventions. Do we need to have an individual counseling session? Do we need to do some further investigating with on a whole group setting,” explained Franklin.
Dr. Christine Pickering helps expand mental health programs in the county and is now implementing a new anti-bullying course for high school juniors and seniors.
“It's the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, and it teaches students and staff how to recognize bullying and how to intervene with it. And to really empower and encourage those bystanders to be upstanders to put a stop to bullying,” said Dr. Pickering. “The data does indicate that there is an increase in unkind behavior and bullying behavior. The converse of that is we know when we implement some good training and programs that rates of bullying go down.”
Before your student heads back to school, counselors suggest having a conversation with your child about being kind to others.
“The kid that doesn't have anybody to play with on the playground, go up to them, talk to them. You know, we don't laugh at other people. We don't make fun of other people. And to also know that if you see this going on, speak up,” said Dickson.
Hillsborough County is also developing an anti-cyberbullying program for fifth graders. They hope to implement it in the next school year.
If you are a parent and are looking for more resources, you can call Champions for Children’s parent warm line at 813-673-4646 EXT: 7
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