It’s never easy when a community is rocked by something that affects their youth. With the local news that has gone national we wanted to address and send our support to Trent Lehrkamp and his family. Below are ways you can spread your support during this time.
Looking for some resources on bullying? Here are some websites that can help.
StopBullying.gov: When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.
Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.
National Bullying Prevention Center: How is bullying defined? Does bullying happen more often than adults think? What if my child is the one bullying? How does bullying impact a students’ health? Here you will find the answers to these questions and many more, along with helpful information about cyberbullying, students with disabilities, and research.
American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry: Bullying is repeated aggressive behavior that can present in the form of threats, physical assault, and intimidation that is intentional and involves a difference in power and/or strength.
Bullying is a common experience for many children and adolescents.
Bullying behavior can be physical, verbal, or electronic. Boys tend to use physical intimidation or threats, regardless of the gender of their victims. Bullying by girls is more often verbal, usually with another girl as the target. Bullying has even been reported in online chat rooms, through e-mail and on social networking sites.
Children who are bullied experience real suffering that can interfere with their social and emotional development, as well as their school performance. Some victims of bullying have even attempted suicide rather than continue to endure such harassment and punishment.
Teens Against Bullying: The Teens Against Bullying is a website created by PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center (PACER’s NBPC). Since 2006, PACER’s NBPC has actively led social change to prevent childhood bullying, so that all youth are safe and supported in their schools, communities, and online.