NSU Horizons Spring/Summer 2008

29 horizons bully.” These are the people who then go on to exhibit behaviors such as sexual harassment, marital abuse, and pet abuse. For bystanders, exposure to bullying creates fear and anxiety and threatens the very climate of the school or workplace. Therefore, it is not just a school issue; it’s a community issue, health issue, and psychological issue. We understand from Maslow’s Hierarchy of basic needs that children need to develop feelings of safety and feel that they belong before they can do anything else. When we have children telling us the biggest problem in their life is bullying, we are not providing the feelings of security and belonging that they need to reach their potential. HORIZONS : Are there signs that bullying is increasing? We cannot determine at this time if bullying is increasing, but the opportunity to have it take place more often is available and is being reported more often. Parents and schools are asking for help with how to address bullying. I also have observed that what we tolerate as a community today is much greater than what we used to tolerate years ago. This makes bullying more acceptable in society. In some instances, the bullying is even dismissed as child’s play. HORIZONS : How are you getting the message out to the community on how to prevent bully- ing? How are you offering solutions? I utilize every opportunity that I have to speak to community groups, schools, and parents. I also take full advantage of speaking at parent-teacher association meetings and provide faculty presen- tations locally and nationally. I work with both private and public schools nationwide to develop policies designed to prevent bullying and meet state law and county guidelines where they are in place. I am working as part of a task force with Broward County Public Schools to develop a policy that addresses bullying behav- ior. I encourage all parents to ask their school’s teachers, guidance counselors, or principals to seek the development of bullying prevention policies. To offer solutions, I conduct an awareness campaign, complete with demonstrations on how to conduct surveys and tabulate results. I provide parents, faculty members, and administrators with easy, solid advice designed to intervene and assist children who experi- ence bullying firsthand. One way to promote bullying prevention when the bullying is evident is to increase supervision in those areas where it has taken place, such as hallways, bathrooms, and lunchrooms. It is also necessary to incorporate this awareness into the curriculum. Too often, children may think it is funny to hurt someone else because of the attention or reaction that the bullying may get. By getting a clear definition of what bullying is parents and educators can work to eradicate it. HORIZONS : What can we do as educators, parents, and community members to help prevent bullying? There are things that parents can do at home to help children realize that bullying should not be tolerated. People need to think of children in terms of what they are being exposed to at school, on the playground, in the neighborhood, and at home. Children today are subjected to news segments that demonstrate random acts of violence, to headlines that show car bombings. All of these visuals show very little mourning or negative reaction. As adults, we view these scenes as bothersome, and we remove ourselves emotionally. Children cannot understand at this point and develop empathy. We should seize these moments to help our children develop empathy. We need to teach children there are people less fortunate and that hurting others is wrong. We need to be aware of what we are exposing our children to and the impact it has on their behavior. In essence, we need to model the behavior we want them to replicate. We need to ask ourselves as parents, community members, and educators “Do they see the way we treat other people? Do they see the way we act?” If we want them to be kind, they should witness adults being kind and serving as active bystanders to help others in need. n Lisa Bolivar is a freelance writer based out of South Florida. Meline Kevorkian, Ed.D. Executive Director of Academic Review