The conflicts and tensions that arise in connection with bullying, whether physical or verbal, have a painful core and emotional resources are needed to deal with it. Thus by increasing positive emotions and directing them towards oneself and others, hostile attitudes decrease exponentially and group adherence, prosocial behaviours and appropriate responses to environmental stressors increase.
The power of positive action – activity for the whole family
You can use a situation where someone has made a nice gesture for your child to ask them how they felt and if they would like to make a gesture for someone else.
Vlad for example still eats from MacDonalds Happy Meal. The toy no longer interests him and one day he left it on the table. I saw that a few tables away there was a lady with a 4-5 year old child and asked him if he wanted to go and give it to her. He went.
When he came back, he told me:
-It felt so good, Mommy. The little boy was very happy and his mother thanked me.
Challenge your family, in the evenings at the dinner table or in the car, to a discussion about friendly things you could say to people around you, at school or at home, at sports, shopping, etc. You can do this as a game:
- Each person should identify 3 people to whom they could say a few friendly words.
- What could you say to each person identified? Find one thing, what could I put on my mother to make her smile? What could I say to my math teacher to cheer her up?
- Draw lots for the day of your turn and display a list
- Each day the nominee tells the story of what happened, how they think the person they made smile felt and how they felt.
Read also What are you grateful for?Three activities to play with kids
To help children become aware of the negative effects of physical and verbal bullying and the alternatives available to them, we have developed an anti-bullying workshop that we offer during the week of school otherwise. At the end of the workshop children will understand:
- What is physical or verbal aggression
- The hidden effects of verbal aggression
- Signs of strong emotion
- Soothing techniques
- Alternatives to physical and verbal aggression
- The importance of pleasant experiences and positive messages
Contact us now at 0729039511 or coaching@oanavaideanu.com to book a day. On the link School programme otherwise you will find details of all the workshops in our programme. Contact us now to book your day in advance. 🙂