Stop Bullying

Janice and I as well as our entire team at 5 Minutes for Mom are passionate about helping stop bullying in schools, workplaces and in the blogosphere.

We will be devoting many more posts and attention to the Anti-Bullying cause. This page serves as a resource to link to posts we’ve written and other resources we recommend for parents, teachers and kids to help recognize, prevent & stop bullying and cyberbullying.

Submit The Documentary – The Reality of Cyberbullying

We need to stand up and take action against this unfair imbalance of power that destroys lives. A new movie called Submit The Documentary explores the dangerous and growing trend of brutal cyberbullying and calls us to action.

The documentary brings students, teachers, administrators, lawyers and politicians together to discuss the problem and possible solutions.

Click Here to find out more about the movie…

How To Protect Kids From Cyber Bullying

Susan talks with Kim Garst from Boom Social about cyberbullying and how parents can help protect their children from cyber bullies.

Read the full cyberbullying post here.

What Is Your Story?

We have all been involved in bullying in one way or another. We may or may not have played the role of “bully” but we’ve all played the role of “bystander” more than once.

In the post Bullying – We Are All Guilty I share a personal story where I didn’t handle a situation in the best way possible.

The key to stopping bullying is changing bystanders into witnesses who stand up for the bullied target. Barbara Coloroso talks extensively about the difficult challenge of teaching kids to become witnesses in her book The Bully, The Bullied and The Bystander.

The Bully Project

The film BULLY and the companion social outreach campaign, The Bully Project, are sharing the message that bullying is a widespread and serious problem that can happen anywhere.

Bully is available now on DVD.

Watch this movie with your kids. Personally, I think kids ages 10 to 12 should watch with their parents. If you can get your teen to watch with you, it’s a great way to start discussions with them too. But whether they watch with you or not, all teenagers should see this film.

Order a copy of the DVD for yourself and at the same time, perhaps get a copy to donate to your school or public library.

I recently interviewed Katy Butler, the bullied teen turned anti-bullying activist, who successfully petitioned for the movie’s rating to be reduced to PG13. Katy shared practical advice as to how kids, parents and teachers can help end bullying.

ERASE Bullying Summit

I was honoured to attend the ERASE Bullying Summit in Vancouver, BC on Tuesday, Nov 13 as a guest social media correspondent. ERASE stands for Expect Respect, and A Safe Education.

Below are my notes from the summit.

ERASE Bullying Summit
ERASE Bullying Summit – Lessons Learned – Part 1
ERASE Bullying Summit – Lessons Learned – Part 2
ERASE Bullying Summit – Lessons Learned – Part 3

I’m sharing all of my notes from the summit because there was so much important information shared and I truly want all parents and teachers to hear and absorb all that was said. The presentations were fast-paced and full of content, so please understand there may be errors in my notes and that I couldn’t capture everything.

During the summit, I tweeted quotes from both my Twitter handles @5minutesformom and @susancarraretto using the hashtag #ERASEBullying.

You can see a collection of my tweets from the summit at…
ERASE Bullying Summit Tweets from @susancarraretto
ERASE Bullying Summit Tweets from @5minutesformom

ERASE Bullying Website

Please share BC’s new ERASE Bullying website and the anonymous student online reporting tool with everyone you know, whether in Canada or elsewhere. The site is full of valuable information and while the reporting tool can only be used by students in BC, it’s a fantastic example of what should be made available to kids everywhere.

Let’s get the word out so that other provinces and countries implement something similar.

Pinterest Board

Also, I created a Stop Bullying Pinterest board to share many of the helpful resources related to the summit and beyond.

Book Suggestions

Barbara Coloroso is a world famous anti-bullying expert and is a phenomenal source of wisdom. My top reading suggestion is her book, The Bully, The Bullied and The Bystander.

Here’s a link to it and a few other book ideas…

Bullying and Special Needs

According to Dr. Peter Raffalli of the Children’s Hospital in Boston, bullies tend to prey on children who they think are weaker than themselves. In some instances, this includes children with special needs, developmental and/or intellectual disabilities.

“No matter how you look at it, bullying is a form of abuse victimization, plain and simple. It’s a case of the strong – or at least the stronger – preying on the weak. It says volumes about where we are as a culture and race,” Raffalli said.

“Standing Out” and defenselessness often allow children with special needs to be easier targets of dominance oriented behavior, or bullying. There are many organizations and support system available for victims of bullying and abuse. These include but are not limited to some of the ones suggested on this page, along with Cerebral Palsy Guidance.

You can find unique perspectives about bullying and special needs (specifically cerebral palsy at cerebralpalsyguidance.com/cerebral-palsy/living/bullying/.