Ditch the Label and Stop the Bullying!

I came across a great anti-bullying charity recently, called Ditch the Label. I was doing some research for the Children's Rights Alliance for England, and needed some stats on bullying. Ditch the Label published their first Annual Bullying Survey earlier this year. It was really sad to see what children and young people have been experiencing.

Here are some of their findings:

• Up to 68% of young people in the UK will experience bullying.
• Young people with disabilities or from sexual minorities were found to be the most at risk of bullying.
• 60.2% of the young people who were bullied were targeted because of attitudes towards appearance.
• 57% of bullied students were dissatisfied with support services on offer.

When I read that last statistic, my first thought was that we have to do something to improve support services for these young people who have experienced bullying. Whereas, actually, it would be better to take action to try to stop bullying in the first place, and then there would be no need for such support services.

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A report released last week, by The Children's Commission on Poverty, showed that poorer children in the UK were more likely to report bullying. Children from poorer families were asked if they ever felt embarrassed or were bullied because their families did not have enough money. 55% said they felt embarrassed and 14% said they had been bullied.

Another form of bullying has been on the rise in recent years. Yesterday, I blogged about the fact that so many children around the world do not have access to the internet. Sadly, those who can easily access the internet may use it for destructive purposes, including cyberbullying. Bullying can now extend from the school playground, right into a child's home, through the internet.  

Ditch the Label has also published an Annual Cyberbullying Survey. This survey showed that:

• 7 in 10 young people are the victims of cyberbullying.
• 20% of young people are experiencing cyberbullying on a daily basis.
• Young people are twice as likely to be bullied on facebook than on any other social networking site.

This page has some guidance on how to deal with cyberbullying - for children, parents and teachers.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I think the name, Ditch the Label, is a great one for an anti-bullying charity. Often people label others, based on their appearance, or their interests, or their background, etc. They then form perceptions, because of these labels. In the worst case scenario, this can lead to abuse and bullying. It is important to try to help those who bully others, as with the right support, they can stop inflicting this pain on others.

A nice thing I have found about NaBloPoMo (the challenge to write a blog post everyday throughout November) is the discovery of other great bloggers who are also doing this challenge. I would like to share with you to a post I found yesterday on Mifusa's Blog: Presents of Presence. The post is here. First it highlights the most terrible consequence of bullying: suicide. Then it gives a truly inspiring video, of a man called Nick Vujicic, who was born without limbs, speaking very powerfully about bullying and about love. I wish more young people could watch this video, and hear Nick's message. Please share that post as much as possible to get the message out there!

Feel free to share any other useful sites or videos in the comment section below, or any advice or thoughts you may have. Bullying is a huge issue, and causes so much pain to so many people. I think that any time we can put in to the anti-bullying effort is surely time well-spent.

A Call to Speak Out Against Bullying - for Vloggers

October is anti-bullying month! Sadly, bullying affects many children and teenagers around the world.

Image courtesy of Ambro/www.freedigitalphotos.net

The following facts were given on the website of DoSomething.org:

•  Bullying is the most common form of violence in schools(verbally and physically)/ 
• One incident of bullying [happens] every seven minutes. 
• It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school everyday due to the fear of attack or intimidation by other students. 
• 2 out of 3 teens are verbally or physically harassed every year. 
• 58% of teens have had hurtful things said to them online and over 40% say it’s happened more than once.

The page goes on to give a plan of action and also has a video made by young people. You can see it here.

I am a member of the 20sb network, for bloggers in their twenties. If you are also in your twenties and like to blog or vlog, you may be interested in what they have planned to mark anti-bullying month. They are asking people to:

 "post a vlog (or blog post if you’re not up for the face time) about a time you were bullied, tips for dealing with a bully, or maybe lessons you’ve learned from being a bully" 

The deadline is 24 October and entries can be left in the comments section of their blog post on anti-bullying month. They will compile highlights from the videos, to be shared at the end of October. All the details are here.

Even if you are not in your twenties (and so can't enter your vlog for the 20sb call to action), you may want to think about this theme for this month. How can bullying be prevented? How can we help young people who are being bullied? Let's hope that our actions this month can go towards answering these questions and stamping out bullying!