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Whitney Kropp: Bullied Teen & Community Show Courage

Can you imagine being the person who was nominated to be Homecoming Queen only to be told that it was simply a prank by the ‘popular’ students. The boy that was nominated to be her escort withdrew from the court.

In this case the community came forward to help and to support her as she decided to attend the homecoming no matter, to stand up to the bullying. This took a great deal of courage from a 16 year old. But lets not ignore the others around her that have given support and demonstrated that when a community comes together they can turn a bad situation into one that is supportive.  See the Town Rallies Around Bullied Teen

Everyday in our own community there are many young people who are targets of bullying. Will our community work together to support all of our children? Are we willing to create a culture of peace in the community, starting with our own education about the subject and helping our children learn to focus on friendship?

I invite parents to attend one of our Parent Workshops on Bully Prevention.   They are free and our sole purpose is to bring awareness to what we can do as parents in regard to this issue.

 

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Bully Prevention Workshops will begin after the holiday

Beginning July 9th we will begin our summer workshops for students in age specific and gender specific classes.  We invite those who have an interest in supporting their child in building relationships, friendship and confidence to join us for this class.  Here is a link to the sign up sheet or you can drop in on the day your age group is meeting.

Focus on Friendship – Bully Prevention Workshop

In the fall we will also be providing short information sessions for parents on bully prevention.

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Culture of Peace is the answer to bullying

In just one week  I will be presenting on four occasions the topic, Creating a Culture of Peace in our Schools at AACC.  For months now I have been preparing this presentation because of my belief that it is not about rules, posters and punishments that will change what is happening in our schools – but rather an examination of the culture in each and every school.  As adults we have the responsibility and the power to help our children to learn to be peaceful, but creating peace starts with one – and that is ourselves.

In a recent interview the director of the documentary, Bully, touched on this point in a very powerful manner.  His comments are found in the video.  In the coming months we will be working to bring greater awareness to this subject, and I encourage each parent in our community to have this discussion at their school .  I am available to speak to this subject with parents and teachers in any school here in Anne Arundel County as we pursue peace in our schools.

Here is the link: Director of BULLY interview

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Keeping Your Child Safe on the Internet this Summer

The summertime offers more free time and our kids are going to want to do things online more than ever.  So what are some guidelines that we can set and how do we keep them safe.  This article that just came out covers this material very well.  It is at the Common Sense Media website.

As for Balanced Life Skills we will be covering age appropriate reminders for students on internet safety in our Focus on Friendship summer workshops for kids.  In this part of the workshop we will be talking to each group about defining the term cyber-bullying, and helping them to see healthy ways to use the computer and safety rules for them to be aware are necessary.   Each age group will be treated appropriately.

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Bully Prevention Requires Proactive Intervention

There have been a number of events that have taken place in my life or very close to me that has had me stop and think about being proactive. Many times the solutions to problems and the antidote to issues are prescribed after a bad event, but those very solutions and antidotes are very effective to never having the problem in the first place. Let me show a couple of examples.

If you go to the doctor and find that you are pre-diabetic or have diabetes, what do they do? They may put you on medications, but they will for sure instruct you on changing your diet and getting more exercise. So why do we wait till something happens, disaster is ready to strike and then start making changes, when we know that a healthy diet and good exercise routine can result in good health, with lowered risk of these kinds of diseases?

Recently someone close to me that suffers from depression, anxiety and bi-polar disorder after getting the chemicals balanced out was encouraged to take the time to learn and practice meditation. In fact at the hospital, the encouragement was talking to someone (social therapist), physical activity, and learning peace with meditation. These are all recommendations that are good for all of us. Why do we wait to practice some alone and quiet time, simply sitting with ourselves, and allowing our minds to rest – till we are stressed out or even worst have a complete breakdown? Should we not practice good mental health on a daily basis?

I have really started thinking about this in light of the work I am doing on bully prevention. To be honest it is hard to find individuals interested in the work that needs to be done – unless of course they are being bullied or their child is being picked on or worst yet someone is thinking of harming themselves. Then the subject is quite important to them.

Please do not wait till your child is being harmed in some manner, or until you find out that they are being hurt, before you take proactive steps to help them. Do not wait till they are in a fight and you admit that there are anger management issues that should have been dealt with a long time ago. Friendships, relationships and the way we deal with one another is not something that we wait till a bad destructive event. Do not wait to learn about verbal self defense, anger management, relational aggression, or the boy code – until there is an emergency situation in your life.

If you want to help me put the information together, find ways to help others and create a curriculum for all of us to study please contact me and I will tell you where I am at this time and we can discuss solutions to creating a culture of peace in our schools and community.