Have you ever asked yourself this question?
Some children seem to have better skills at being assertive and strong and not allowing others to walk all over them!
Is it possible to teach children how to be assertive and stand up for their rights?
Could it be as easy as teaching them social and emotional intelligence skills?
This certainly appears to be a factor that can help them when it comes to dealing with bullying.
Our programs at the Rainbow Planet Connection are designed to help children to become more self-empowered and assertive when dealing with bullying and other negative social issues!
If a child knows how to speak in a clear firm voice and says ‘Stop doing that I don’t like it’ for example rather than appearing to be weak and not standing up for themselves it certainly helps to stop the bully from proceeding further!
Body language is another key to helping children avoid or deal with bullying and other challenging situations. If a child can look another one straight in the eye with a confident look for instance then this is an indication to the bully that the other child is going to stand up for themselves.
Please see our resource book which includes Body Awareness activities for children for more ideas.
Barbara Westgate a teacher in Canada was using the Rainbow Planet Connection’s Program to teach these skills to a group of children. She reports the following from one of her courses:
‘Just tonight a parent came early to tell me how her son is using the information at home and at school.
Yesterday he encountered a child who was in his personal space. He attempted to handle the situation but he was sent to the back of the room by the teacher so he would not have to encounter the behavior that was bothering him.
Today the same thing happened again and he stopped, assessed the situation and using a confident voice asked the child to stop the action that was irritating him. She did!
The parent spent some while giving further examples of how the program is working and how she too is learning to use the exercises for her own betterment. She also said her son loves the classes. Truthfully, I have had numerous positive responses and much encouragement from most of the parents.’
The Rainbow Planet Connection’s training courses for teachers (and other childcare workers) show you how to incorporate Social and Emotional Literacy Skills into your classroom/learning environment.
Studies show that Social and Emotional Literacy is a key factor in helping young people develop self-esteem, self-responsibility, develop healthier relationships with others and improve their capacity for learning.
Children and young people can develop skills and techniques to:
o Be self-empowered and assertive when dealing with bullying and other negative social impacts in the environment.
o Develop effective ways of handling anger and other emotions and learn to resolve conflicts in a more positive way.
o Be more aware of and respond in helpful more positive ways to other people’s emotional expression.
An additional benefit is that you as a teacher will feel less stressed and hopefully have a more harmonious classroom.
Other activities are offered which are based on breathing exercises and inner body work. This involves looking inside the body to find out where the feeling or hurt is and then breathing it and/or doing other exercises to express and release the feeling.