Simply for Success

Might Is Right?

Bullying is a fairly hot talking point these days. With the availability of inbuilt video devices it is also becoming increasingly easy to catch some of the more physical and unpleasant incidents on film, this combined with the prolific nature of social media, we now have a whole new dimension to the bullying problem.

I imagine there are very few people reading this who have not heard of Casey Heynes during the past week. I won’t post the link here as Google is very proficient if you need to know more. Casey is the school boy who shot to fame with widespread circulation of a video in which he retaliates after being punched by a much younger and smaller boy. The response to this video has been phenomenal and has driven scores of people to comment on many different forums.

For me the forums are probably even more interesting than the event. That the two boys involved are lacking resourceful behaviours and would benefit from some guidance is obvious. What is less obvious is the opposing responses from adults willing to contribute to the debate. If  there is indeed a huge bullying problem facing children within the school system, and if the current programs are failing to address that problem, then what can be done that does not involve teaching all 6 year olds martial arts?

From my previous posts it will be clear by now that I am passionate about bullying and have personal experience both as a child and as a parent. The NLP Confidence and Performance coaching work that I do has given me invaluable insight into bullying and self esteem issues in both adults and children. If I were to add my tuppence worth to this volatile debate (and I do this with some trepidation), I would like to suggest that the programs that are currently in place do not give enough tangible resources to parents, teachers and children and are often ineffective.

“Duck” I hear you cry! They are going to call you “a politically correct pacifist” (or something along the like) and yes, I know, it is annoying for me to become one of the naysayers and add my complaint to the list of angry and frustrated parents, teachers and children but there is a point to this. We are currently developing our “7 Steps to Artfully Avoid Fitting In” which is a resource tool to help in the transition from bullied to brilliant and potentially to help in the transition from bully to brilliant. Our idea is not to condemn or vilify the victims and bullies but to offer practical step by step tools that can and will interfere with the bully-victim behaviours.

Step 1. Is to step off the train tracks – If you are faced with a bully or even a large problem, wouldn’t it be better if you could position yourself slightly to the side, slightly out of the path of the oncoming train (bully), slightly out of the direct line. Imagine if you were indeed on a train track, would you stand there and figure out ways of slowing or even stopping the train, or would you step off the tracks and move into a more protected position whereby you could either move easily away or signal the train from a safe distance?

Over the next few weeks we will be uploading more of the steps, more information and video clips to our website www.powerfulpositivepeople.com. It is under construction and will be live very soon but in the meantime you may be directed back  here to www.simplyforsuccess.com and so we will post the same material until our new website is ready. You can also find several other articles about bullying.

If you are facebook friendly, do stay in touch with us via our facebook page www.facebook.com/powerfulpositivepeople.

Looking forward to your feedback and comments.

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Tags: bullies, bullying, NLP, schoolyard bullies, solutions to bullying

Posted in Bullying