Wichita, Kan. – October 10, 2014 – October is nationally recognized as Bullying Prevention Month. As the Prevent Child Abuse Kansas Chapter, this month the Kansas Children’s Service League (KCSL) is encouraging Kansans to go the extra mile in demonstrating kindness and showing their support of bullying prevention.
As part of this initiative, KCSL created a free toolkit for parents and educators with bullying facts, prevention talking points and social media messaging. The kit also includes tip cards on how to know if your child is being bullied or cyberbullied, steps to resolve the bullying and what to do if you suspect your child is doing the bullying. The toolkit is available online at www.kcsl.org/BullyingPrevention.aspx.
Additionally, individuals, schools and communities are encouraged to participate in Kansas Kindness Day on October 22 by wearing orange and posting their random acts of kindness on social media.
“We want to connect families, empower youth and transform Kansas into a state of kindness,” said Prevent Child Abuse Kansas Director Vicky Roper. “We hope that by highlighting the good we can show positive ways children and youth can impact each other.”
In 2014, a survey conducted by Kansas Communities that Care showed nearly 9,000 Kansas students miss school one to two times each month because they feel unsafe, uncomfortable or nervous at school or on their way to or from school. No longer considered “kids just being kids,” bullying negatively affects children emotionally, psychologically and physically. Bullying is any behavior that is done to intentionally harm someone. Bullies use their physical, social, or emotional power to cause pain and force their targets to obey their requests. Most bullying behaviors are repeated over time, and bullying can be physical, verbal, emotional, cyber or sexual/gender.
To access resources and learn more, visit KCSL’s website at www.kcsl.org or call 1-800-CHILDREN, and visit www.facebook.com/MakingKansasBullyFree to see acts of kindness that are being done across the state on October 22.
