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Bully Prevention is not a Fad

I think we could all learn a lot from the weekend employee at Tylenol. Many years ago he saw a problem and made the executive decision to pull the product from the shelves.

Many of you may not remember that incident because they responded quicker than the media and showed more concern for public safety. They could have dodged it or pretended there wasn’t a problem but in the long run it would still be hurt their business.

When organizations and schools have a behavior problem they should act quickly and implement a strategy that will end it but prevent future occurrences.
Bully prevention is not just a fad that we will try this year. Instead it should be an ongoing training process that promotes positive behavior skills to reduce bullying problems.

Parents need to get involved

I present my bully preventions programs to over 200 schools each year throughout the country and the common thread behind the positive behavior success in most of those schools is parental involvement.

As a parent of two teenage children and one young adult I know that being involved and investing the time now will pay off in the end. The reason they do their homework, their respectful, are outstanding reader is because my wife and I are very involved.

We have always worked hard at being a positive role model. We watched what we said and what we did and if we messed up we always took responsibility for our actions.

Children aren’t born Bullies

When I present my programs for schools and parent teacher workshops .I remind them that  bullying is not a normal part of growing up even though many adults still believe that it is..

I also explain that our children learn how to be bullies from us. When we criticize or make judgement of others we are teaching our children to do the same. So if we can work on improving our behavior our children will do the same.

My next door neighbor has a temper and he sometimes walks around growling like a bear.  Couple weeks ago I jokingly called him “angry neighbor” and started to criticizing and making fun of his behavior.  Days later my twelve year old daughter was on the phone with her friend and I heard her parrot most of what I said.  I quickly pulled her to the side and told her that dad was wrong for making judgments about neighbor. I explained that I needed to concern myself with my life and how I presented myself to the world and should not be waisting time making fun of others.

So next time you are wondering how your child learned to say this or that, start listening to your own tapes and you will be surprised what you hear.

Here are some things to think about before you say something bad about the neighbor or your friends:

What give me the right to say this about another?

Why am I running from my own faults?

How can I be a better person?

By doing this you will improve yourself, your world and inspire your children to be respectful and kind to others.

 

Copyright Richard Paul 2010