Canada's anti-bullying week

Bullying stops in less than 10 seconds more than half the time (57%), when peers intervene on behalf of the victim. That statistic from a York University study may be why Canada's National Bullying Awareness Week (11/15-21) this year focuses on "Rise Above the Rest - Don't Be a Bystander." The awareness campaign, sponsored by Bullying.org and the Family Channel, challenges kids to "Take the Pledge" against bullying. Some 55,000 young Canadians took the pledge last year, the campaign's first year. Information on all aspect of the program ("Canada's Caring Kid" awards, guidelines on how kids can intervene without escalating the incident, a workshop timetable, discussion topics, etc.) can be found in the Bullying Awareness Week Toolkit and at Bullying.org (under "What's New" in the left-hand column). Help with online versions of bullying - on cell phones and in instant-messaging, chat, and email - is at Cyberbullying.ca (also by dad, educator, and creator of Bullying.org Bill Belsey) and, more for parents and educators, at the US-based Cyberbully.org. Our recent series on "The IM life of middle-schoolers" may also be useful; it starts here.