I was talking to a big “Biker type” business leader last week, looking for sponsorship for the program. The conversation started off with him very firmly saying he disliked Bullies to the extent he gets involved every time he sees one. Nothing unusual so far for a man of this persona, then he said just as adamantly that his mother was a Bully and still was. I cracked a slight smile as at first my brain was trying to picture this big tough looking man who was probably in his late 40’s or early 50’s being bullied by his mom. Very quickly though the mental images that made me crack a grin vanished as I realized he was deadly serious.

Then I came across this article online this week, that talks about parental bullying and how it is often over looked, taking a back seat to cyber bullying, school yard bullying and office bullying.

The Article makes a good point that parental bullying can have a domino affect and warrants more attention…

Read the Full Article

New Jersey passes “toughest”Anti-Bullying Law yet. This new law will go into effect on September 1, 2011 and has been in the works since last year. As most agree that the law reaffirms the goals of schools towards Bullying, it will still take many years to create healthier school cultures. Some are worried about its implementation, as there is the danger that the new law could lead to over reporting of bullying. As what is bullying often comes down to one’s perception. Perception of course varies substantially depending on what side of the Bullying equation that you sit.

Read the Full Story – nj.com

Community Awareness & Fundraiser at Sears in Olds - Saturday August 13, 2011

Thanks to Rob and his staff at Sears in Olds for hosting a public awareness fundraiser for Stopbully.com on Saturday, it was a really nice day.

Bullying affects everyone and is timeless, this is neat story of how a teenage Micheal Chow, now 72 and a famous celebrity restaurateur, moved to England and suffered Bullying because of his race… he was able to turn things around.

Its taken from The Telegraph today…

By Adam Lusher
7:00AM BST 07 Aug 2011

The Shanghai-born 72-year-old has seen his Knightsbridge, Beverly Hills, New York and Miami restaurants patronised by everyone from the Beatles to Andy Warhol, via Ingrid Bergman and Federico Fellini.
Yet he tells The Sunday Telegraph's Seven magazine that he resorted to wearing his trademark tortoiseshell glasses to ward off racists.
"When I first came to England I realised that two things could let you off the hook race-wise: Eccentricity and fame. For that reason I call them my 'anti-racism' glasses, because people look at the glasses more than me, so the Chinese part begins to disappear."
He buys the glasses from Cutler and Gross, whose Knightsbridge store is behind his restaurant, and they are now sold by the opticians as "Mr Chow spectacles".

Read Full Article

Quick HI at Parkland Mall

Last minute fill in Parkland Mall yesterday - for Red Deer Talent Show...
Just a two minute explanation on StopBully.com and its history...

Outside doing some public awareness with brochures and a little Fundraising - Red Deer Walmart

We would also like to thank Rob, Andrew and the staff at Rob's No Frills in Airdrie for providing a venue for a StopBully.com Community Awareness event this past Saturday and Glenn, Dan and their staff at Glenn's No Frills in Olds for doing likewise the Saturday before.

Been a busy month July 2011:

August 2011 - is starting to look even busier...
Volunteers and help are always appreciated :)
email: stopbully@shaw.ca for more info...

In this photo we were helping out for the 3rd year with Alpine Insurance's annual fundraiser for the Special Olympics in Red Deer

How to Stand Up Against Cyber Bullying

The onset of the modern technology has caused major changes on how people live and interact with each other. This modernity brought to life the immense growth of the cyber world, as more and more individuals rely on this form of media for various motivations, from gathering of the latest information, to purchasing the latest model in fashion and gadgetry, to social interaction and more. In fact, according to the latest statistics, 26.6% of the world populations are internet users, way above than the 4.1 percentage ten years ago. And the numbers are rising, as social media networks or those websites that caters to the social needs of people are getting enormously popular over the years.

However, along with this positive development is its negative consequence. Because the internet is a world based on freedom of speech and lesser accountability, it has become an avenue for bullies to oppress unfortunate victims. Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter have been the subjects of numerous complaints from the society because it lacks control on its content, which some individuals made use to bully other kids hence the beginning of cyber bullying. And because these sites are very popular, the cyber bullying then gets uglier every time.

As a parent, you must be very vigilant in these kinds of oppression against your child. Read the article below and know how to combat the many forms of cyber bullying and what you should do to avoid them from happening to your own kid.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/20/AR2010072005362.html

The Media Helped Solved a case of Bullying

And we thought that the common perpetrators of bullying in the school are fellow students themselves. But it seems that even adults can be the reason why our kids would go home downhearted, confused and bullied. Imagine, the lady bus driver taunting and teasing a child just because of his disorder?

The school did not do anything about the complaints of the mother, but only did something when the media picked up the bullying case and started reporting it. I guess we now have an institution to turn to when our complaints of bullying fell into deaf ears. Go to the media and report your case of bullying in order for the right people to take a stand on the case.

http://www.bnd.com/2010/05/20/1263156/mom-says-school-bus-driver-taunted.html

Is “Bullycide” the New Norm?

Bullycide, a new word created to describe the very abhorrent consequence of bullying. As young as 8 years old, kids resort to suicide as the only way out of bullying, thus the term bullycide. How many times have we learned in the news about bullycide? Many times, and it gets scary every time. Especially for a parent who only wants the best for her kids, the term bullycide is something horrible. But is bullycide the new norm? As we are bombarded with news about suicides caused by bullying, is the term finding its way to the general comprehension of people? Hopefully not. Because by then it indicates that people are accepting the horrible fact that even young kids only have suicide as the only option out of being bullied.

http://www.theprovince.com/life/Exposure+stops+bullies/2762059/story.html