Preventing Violence, Abuse, and Bullying

How to prevent Violence  1. Spotting Dangerous Situations  Signs of trouble may include shouting, profanity, and aggressive physical contact.  2. Planning Ahead  Avoid dangerous places.  Avoid people who use violence to solve problems  Make sure your parents know where you are going, who is with you, and when you’ll be home  Discuss with a partner what you would do in the following scenarios.  You hear a peer threaten to harm others  You witness a peer verbally attacking another student  You need to get home from a friend’s house in the dark.  You see an argument getting overheated

How to prevent Violence  3. Scaling down conflicts  Calm down before you speak  Let the other person know you are not interested in getting into a violent conflict  Change the focus of the conversations with a direct statement such as, “I think we both need time to cool off”.  Take a break or walk away  Tools for scaling down conflicts:  Empathy: sharing the feelings of others  Reason: thinking carefully. Consider what is best for everyone who is in the conflict  Tolerance: respecting and accepting people in spite of differences.

How to prevent Violence  4. Taking threats seriously  A threat: is any serious warning that a person intends to cause harm.  Tell a parent or another trusted adult asap.  5. Respecting yourself and others  Respect helps prevent violence  Understand mistakes  Apologize

Coping with Violence  Seek Safety  Let people know  Talk to a trusted adult  Get medical help  Get into groups of 3  Make 2 columns on a sheet of paper.  Brainstorm reasons why a teenager might find it difficult to report an act of violence in the 1 st column.  In the 2 nd column try to think of ways to overcome these reasons

Resources  Police Departments  Hospitals or clinics  Victim support groups  Crisis hotlines

Check  1. List three ways to avoid potentially violent situations.  2. Describe 5 ways to scale down conflicts  3. Explain how to respond to a threat of violence

Harassment  Harassment: Any repeated, unwanted joke, comment, touch, or behavior.  Sexual Harassment: unwanted jokes, behavior, or touching that relate to a person’s gender or sexuality  How to Stop:  Act assertively  Clearly state with words and body language that the attention is not welcome.  Report the harassment to an adult

Abuse  Abuse is harmful or offensive treatment  There are 5 types of abuse:  Physical  Sexual  Verbal  Emotional  Neglect

Physical Abuse  Any physical act meant to cause bodily harm to another person  Examples: physical contact that results in bruises, burns, broken bones, or head injuries, wounds, cuts or twisted arms and legs

Verbal Abuse  The use of hurtful words to intimidate, manipulate, hurt, or dominate another person  Examples: shouting profanity, ridiculing, teasing, using put downs, making fun of another person

Emotional Abuse  The repeated use of actions or words that imply a person is worthless or powerless  Examples: continually degrading someone, using threatening words or actions, repeatedly being insensitive to another’s feelings.  “Tangled” clip

Sexual Abuse  Any sexual contact with a child; any unwanted sexual contact or touch between individuals of any age that continues after a person has been told to stop  Examples: Touching a person’s body in an unwanted sexual way

Neglect  The failure of parents or caregivers to meet the physical, emotional, social, and educational needs of a child or other dependent  Examples: not providing a child with food and clothing, withholding love and affection, keeping a child from receiving a proper education

Resources  Family Members: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, older brother and sister  Local People: neighbors, friends’ parents, religious leaders, coaches  School Staff: teachers, counselors, principals, coaches  Health Professionals: doctors, nurses, social workers  Community Professionals: police officers, firefighters, crisis hotline

Check  List the 5 types of abuse  abuse uses words to hurt, intimidate or threaten  Failing to meet the emotional or physical needs of a child is.  List 3 resources when dealing or recovering from abuse

Bullying  A bully is a person who constantly picks on or beats up smaller or weaker people.  The use intimidation or the act of frightening others through the use of threatening words and body language

If you are being bullied:  Ignore the bully. If a bully sees that they aren’t bothering you they may leave you alone.  Talk to the bully. Tell them how their actions make you feel. Ask them why they feel the need to pick on you  Stand up to the bully. Tell them to stop the behavior. Tell them you will report the behavior to an adult.  Report the bully.

Girls vs. Boys  Boys are usually more likely to express their anger by resorting to physical violence  Girls are more likely to use relational aggression and is characterized by meanness and attacks at another person’s social status and relationships  Wreck it Ralph clip

Cyber Bullying  Cyberbullying occurs when a teenager or pre-teenager uses the Internet, or any form of electronic communication, as a weapon of choice to threaten, harass, torture, or humiliate another childchild  Effects include social isolation, anxiety, plummeting self- esteem, depression, and sudden declines in schoolwork  ducators/educator_videos.htm l