National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

I receive a lot of media releases in my inbox. Sometimes, they hit close to home because they’re relevant to me and to my readers.

As a parent of young school children, learning to read and eating the fruit in their lunchboxes has been my main concern - thus far.

My son started school last year and my daughter will start kindergarten next year. Because they’re young, we’ve lived in our cocooned little world, not having to worry about things, like bullying.

According to recent research commissioned by the Federal Government, one in four students in Australian schools is affected by bullying.

That is a scary figure. My sons class  has 25 kids in it - which means that according to the averages, 5 kids could be affected by bullying.

 

Healthy Harold - LA

 

On Friday 16 March 2012 schools throughout Australia will join together to celebrate the annual National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence.

The focus of the day will be on parents and families taking a stand together and recognising the important role everyone plays.

Life Education encourages children (whether the victim or a bystander) to report all incidents of bullying and urges parents to reassure their child that reporting these events to a trusted adult is the right thing to do.

 

To further support the ‘National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence’, Life Education offers its top tips for parents to minimise the impact of these major issues on their children:

1. Reassure your child that reporting all instances of bullying to a trusted adult is the right thing to do.

2. Provide opportunities for your child to discuss their day’s happenings with you.

3. Use open ended questions to encourage dialogue including, how did you feel? How did the situation resolve? What could you have done differently?

 

About Life Education:

Life Education is the largest non-government provider of health and drug education to children and young people, Australia wide and is well known for its popular mascot, Healthy Harold the Giraffe.Life Education works to motivate, encourage and empower children and young people to exercise real choice – and make informed, safe and healthy lifestyle decisions, through its leading health and drug education programs. Life Education is a registered charity, independent of both government and religion which has been operating since 1979. Over 4 million students have participated in Life Education’s program over the past 32 years. For further information on Life Education please visit: www.lifeeducation.org.au.

2 comments

  1. Bullying is one of the most painful things our children have to face. As a parent we have to be sensitive to any changes in our children as they can often be traced back to bulling at school.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bullying comes in many guises and, like harassment, is in the eye of the "victim". What bounces off one person can seriously wound another and so, I'm sorry to say, the bullying could come from the teacher!

    ReplyDelete

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