The Peace Rug Curriculum Helps Prevent Bullying

What is Bullying?

Bullying happens whenever someone's body, property, or feelings are hurt or threatened and the other person won't stop what they are doing when asked. It may be physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual. Boys and girls can both be bullies. Sometimes it's one-on-one bullying; sometimes it's in a gang. But it's all about trying to have power over someone else.

When Does Bullying Start?

Have you ever noticed how children between the ages of one and two will bully another child in order to get a toy? That feeling of wanting something that is not yours happens even in infancy. But as we age, that type of behavior can no longer be tolerated because it is unacceptable and children can actually be physically hurt.

Bullying behavior is also learned - from someone else. Research shows that many children who were once victims of bullying become bullies themselves. They begin to copy bullying behaviors, often going to extreme measures such as fighting and even shooting.

How Can Bullying Be Prevented?

The problem of bullying needs to be fixed at its root – in the early formative years. Children must be equipped to know how to stop bullying while they are young so that by the time they enter middle and high school, they know what to do stop bullying without conflicts escalating to all parents’ nightmare: the injury of their child and others!

Bullying can happen anywhere: the bus, the cafeteria, the playground, the restroom, the classroom. By knowing the words to use, children are able to put out the embers of conflicts before they become a raging fire.