School Violence
Non-physical and physical violence addressed by The Peace Rug.

Violence - what is it?

We can identify physical violence - biting, kicking, scratching, hitting, beating, knifing, raping, and shooting. Violence can be non-physical as well. We are assaulted everyday by people's words and actions- name-calling, disrespect, eye-rolling, teasing, taunting, harassing, shunning, bullying, and more.

School violence is any non-physical or physical act of aggression against a member of the school community.

When children have no outlet for emotions and they feel hurt, angry or threatened by non-physical or physical violence by another child, they may stuff their feelings for awhile. Some kids stuff for a long while - and then they may go one of three ways:

1. They learn to live with being mistreated and someday they'll mistreat someone else.
2. The feelings build and build until eventually they explode and hurt someone else - with words or worse.
3. The feelings build and eventually, the pain may become so intolerable that a child takes his own life.
   
4. We would like to offer a fourth alternative:
   
   The Peace Rug

• Teaches children a different way to communicate when the conflict happens.
• Teaches new ways to respond to any form of violence.
• Offers a victim of violence a place and dialogue to talk to the bully.
• Teaches a special dialogue to help participants agree to stop the violence.

All children can be taught to stop violence in their school by using The Peace Rug. In knowing to speak up against even the slightest form of non-physical violence, schools can then have true "zero tolerance" to school violence.