Anti Bullying Week 2013

Anti Bullying Week 18th-22nd November

Last week saw anti bullying week take place. Many schools and organisations were running roadshows, campaigns and events to increase the awareness around bullying. Here in the UAE, we didn’t see too much going on apart from a few schools and organisations acknowledging that it was anti bullying week. The Taaleem run Dubai British school had a great campaign running whereby the Year 6 prefects are keeping an eye out for potential bullies in the lower classes. It’s fantastic that the prefects try to resolve the issue by listening and hearing both sides of the coin, if they can’t make peace they involve a teacher.

This type of initiative is fantastic and we love to see this kind of thing happening within schools. The reality is we want to see more of these happening. But our question is; what happens when it’s not a playground scuffle? What about if the bullying is happening online?

This is where the Beat The Cyber Bully team is looking to fill a hole. We had hoped to be in time for anti bullying week this year, but have missed that dead line unfortunately. But that isn’t going to stop us moving forwards!

We are just about to finalise some of our free resources, in English and Arabic and are reaching out to organisations, the schools, and the likes of Taaleem to see how we can help compliment the existing schemes that tackle traditional bullying and how we can help translate that same message into the online world that we all, children, parents, teachers and care givers live in now. We can’t ignore the fact that mobile devices and greater access to the internet means a greater risk for those that are ill prepared when it comes to the various channels that we have profiles on these days.

Our world is changing and the world our children will/are growing up in, is a very different one. This is definitely true for me. When I was a child, if I was home and under the family roof, then mum and dad knew I was safe. But these days, the tragic truth is, that sometimes even at home, under the family roof, children are both dealing with the effects of being bullied. And the other side of the coin is the bully’s are able to orchestrate their hurtful campaigns, from their room and from the mobile device mum and dad have provided for homework use, and also safety.

It’s a much more complicated world we live in these days and we have the feedback that parents are feeling more and more left behind as more channels come online and the ability to monitor what their child is up to online and ultimately keep them safe is becoming harder and harder.

Keep your eyes peeled for more from us in the very near future. In the mean time, stay safe and feel free to drop us a line at safe@beatthecyberbully.ae