Many parents are concerned about bullying when their children are at school and other extra-curricular activities, but how early should you educate your children about bullying? How about as soon as they enter preschool?
On October 17, Sesame Street debuted their anti-bullying campaign, The Good Bird’s Club and Happy To Be Me. The videos, which are available here open up a discussion about bullying that even young preschool students will be able to understand. The videos are also presented with discussion questions that can help you talk to your child about bullying in an easy way that they can understand.
But, you may be asking yourself: Isn’t preschool a little young to be discussing bullying?
Many educators would agree that it is not. Bullying in elementary, middle and high schools is an increasing problem in our society. With Anti-Bullying Legislature being presented before Congress, many would agree that bullying has become one of the newest and most prominent concerns for modern educators.
The Sesame Street Bully Prevention Program provides a unique opportunity for parents to open up a discussion about how to recognize bullying behavior as well as how to avoid it. The website offers practice and play activities that advise children to speak up for themselves if they don’t like the way another child is behaving. It also advises parents to role-play with children to provide examples of how to report bullying to an adult. These activities and the videos provided on this website could help any preschool aged child know how to recognize bullying and avoid it.
Unfortunately, many schools in Westchester County and across the country have been reporting that bullying is an increasing problem in their schools. The earlier in education that we can teach our children about how to prevent bullying, the more likely they will be to avoid it. We must hold our students and our children to a higher standard in order to eradicate bullying behavior. If we can prevent bullying in our schools students will be more likely to succeed both academically and socially. The Sesame Street Bully Prevention Program could help any preschool or elementary school student better understand how to avoid bullying in their school.
Please visit: http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/topicsandactivities/topics/bullying
To contact the Westchester Education News Examiner:
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