Anti-bullying week November 15th - 19th 2010 – Taking Action Together

You can download this anti-bullying poster for your school or club
noticeboard. Click the picture to open it. (PDF format)

Anti-bullying week November 15th - 19th 2010 – Do Your Part
Every day, hundreds of children and teens wake up so afraid of school due to bullying, that they have stomach cramps and they feel sick. Every night, hundreds of kids and teens lie in bed terrified of the next day. That’s not right. No-one should have to live like that. You can do something about it.
Start by joining the Big March (http://www.beatbullying.org/bigmarch/) , and add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of others who want to say that bullying is not acceptable. All you have to do is register and add your name. Easy as that.

But if you really want to be the superhero of your own life, decide from now on, that you won’t tolerate bullying if you can do anything about it. If you see bullying at school, do something about it. You don’t have to put yourself in danger, but don’t stand idly by and watch either. Go tell a teacher. Go tell a parent or a lunch lady. If you’re brave enough, go stand with the bullied person so they’re not on their own.

Often bullies are cowards. They bully to be popular or because they are unhappy. They don’t want the chance of getting hurt themselves, physically or emotionally. Just seeing that their victim has friends is enough sometimes to stop them.

If you’re a bit older, you might appreciate the lyrics to the incredible song Hero, by Superchick, which says far more eloquently than I ever could, why bullying is so damaging. It was written after the Columbine shootings, but the message is timeless. Read the lyrics and hear the song here.

To see the devastating effects on young lives, of unchecked bullying, please watch this short, moving video. Young lives destroyed by bullying, and they're not the only ones by a long, long shot. Agonising though it is, we have to keep remembering stories such as these, because otherwise people quickly lose the motivation for change.

Maybe the most important thing anyone can do to stop bullying, is not to take part in it. You might be surprised what sort of things count as bullying. Here’s a list (taken from the web site of BullyingUK):

You're being a bully to someone if you do any of these things to someone else:

• You call them names
• You make up stories to get them into trouble
• You tell other people not to be friends with them
• You make remarks about their culture, religion or colour
• You make remarks about their disability or medical condition
• You leave them out when you're choosing a games team
• You take away their possessions or demand money from them
• You hide their books or bag
• You send them nasty text messages or make silent calls to their phone
• You make threats about nasty things that will happen to them
• You make remarks about them liking other boys or other girls of the same sex. This is called homophobic bullying
• You spread rumours about them
• You take their friends away leaving them on their own
• You hit them, kick them, trip them up or push them around
• You make remarks about their looks or weight
• You don't choose them to be your partner in class just to hurt them
• You damage their property
• You make jokes about them when you can see they're upset
• You indulge in horseplay when you know they are not enjoying it
• You're going along with the crowd who are doing any of these things

The theme of this year’s Anti-bullying week is “Taking Action Together”. And you should help, because you might be popular today, but the bullies are fickle, and tomorrow it might be your turn. Too nice, too horrible, too tall, too short, too black, too white, red hair, black hair, short hair, too smart, too dumb, too gentle, too gay, wrong religion, wrong address. No-one is safe. Go to the Anti-Bullying Week web site here