Dr. Michele Borba talks about bullying prevention.
Dr. Michele Borba, Parenting and Bullying Prevention Expert, was featured at the Community Empowerment Series in St. Johns County on Saturday, March 9th, 2013.
It was a full house with parents, students, teachers, guidance counselors, principals, deans, therapists, kids that started anti-bullying programs and residents that wants to make a difference in our community.
If you didn’t know about bullying and how it effects children before this seminar, you certainly learned about it coming out of it. Many were brought to tears hearing about the story of the young boy that hung himself. Though many of us know that these are not isolated stories when children are teased and harassed relentlessly both online and off.
Dr. Borba opens her lecture by asking everyone to introduce themselves to the people around them. Yes, let’s get to know our neighbors and be nice!
Dr. Borba would frequently ask the audience to stop, and take a minute to write down exactly what she just said and what it means to them. What are they going to learn from this–how will they implement this into their life. (Honestly, everyone was busy taking notes, but it was nice for her to take a break for a few seconds so we could catch up on our notes) She is like a walking talking encyclopedia.
Bullying has been found to happen in four major hot spots at schools:
- Cafeteria
- Hallways
- Bathrooms
- Playground
As a matter of fact, over 43% of children fear going to the bathroom at school for fear of being bullied. Every 7 minutes a child is bullied on a playground.
Dr. Borba recommends you speak with your kids about a P.L.A.N.:
P: Pal up always have a friend with you
L: Let an adult know if you are being bullied
A: Avoid those hotspots
N: Notice your surroundings, stay alert
If you see someone being teased or bullied or you are the victim, it is important to stay C.A.L.M. according to Dr. Borba:
C: Calm down
A: Assert – be assertive
L: Look at the bully eye to eye (Dr. Borba’s tip is to loo at the color of their eye’s)
M: Mean it
After her almost 2 hour speech, she took time to speak with students and the audience and signed books for people.
St. Augustine is anxious to have her back again next year!
