My Secret Bully Anti-Bullying: Holistic Wellness Program
Step 4: Friends Help Friends Ways to Get Help for Friends in Need
Explain to students that part of friendship is helping out those in need, whether they are your friends or not. The word “friend” should be used interchangeably with “other children,” and students are expected to help their peers and classmates when they are in trouble. If a student sees another child who is upset, mad, or worried, they can lend a helping hand. Follow these tips to helping out another student who is being bullied or left out. See - Notice that another child is feeling sad, lonely, worried, or scared. Note the cues that you can see in their face, body, and voice. Talk - Ask the other child “Are you OK?” Depending on what is upsetting them, you can offer to include them in your group, to share a toy, to give them a hug, or to help them pick up spilled items. No matter what, just offering to be a friend will help out the situation. Help - If talking to the other child did not help solve the problem, find an adult for help. Extension Activity: Create a poster for displaying the protective strategies of See, Talk, Help. Have students show examples of each situation by drawing pictures by each word to demonstrate the steps.
Puppet Role-Play
After identifying the 3 basic steps for helping others (See, Talk, Help,) use puppets to practice them. Have a target, a bully, a bystander, and “adult” or “friend” puppets. First, use puppets to show the situation if the bystanders doing nothing. Ask students What was unfair about that situation? Did anyone help out the target? Whose side were the bystanders on? Point out to students that since the bystanders did nothing, they were on the bully’s side. Now try again, but have students suggest ideas using the See, Talk, Help strategies. Show students how standing up for others gives power to the target and takes it away from the bully. You can even ask the bully puppet which side it would rather be on to show how power can shift so that everyone wins in the end! Situation #1: You and your friends are standing outside waiting for school to start when you notice that Lucy is standing by herself in her bright yellow galoshes. A group of 5th graders begin teasing Lucy because of her galoshes and Lucy becomes scared and embarrassed. What should you do? Guide students through how they can first observe Lucy’s emotions and see that she is scared, then go over and join her or talk to her. They can say something like “Are you ok, Lucy? Why don’t you come join us over here?” This can be a good scenario to demonstrate needing to get adult help. If the 5th graders do not leave Lucy alone after her peers join her, it is a good time for someone to find adult help. Situation #2: At snack time you are sitting with a group of friends and you notice that the new boy in school, Jeremy, is looking for a place to sit. He comes over to your group and asks if he can sit with you. One of your friends, Danny, tells him “No, you’re not allowed to sit here.” You feel very sorry for Jeremy and want to do something about it. What can you do? Help students realize that even if the “bully” is their friend, they can still stand up for the target while helping their friend understand that it’s ok to accept others. Students can say things like “Jeremy, why don’t you come sit by me, there’s plenty of room over here,” or “Jeremy, I’d love to hear about your old school. Come sit over here and tell us all about it!” 9
