Tips for No Name-Calling Week

Bullying is major problem across America. In response to that, many schools have joined in with No Name-Calling Week, a way to teach children how this action can hurt others and ways they can avoid it. For many bullied youth, name-calling is a big part of the torture they receive. Name-calling is hurtful, disruptive, and can be emotionally scarring. Helping kids to understand this and work around it is a simple way to reduce the amount of bullying that happens in America.

Name-calling can be mild or harsh, and takes on a variety of forms. Some of the names have sexual and gender overtones, others simply lash out at a person for a certain characteristic they may have. No matter how it is done, name-calling is hurtful and mean. Parents have the opportunity to help their children learn to be bigger than the bullies that resort to this type of abuse.

Parents should start by explaining exactly how name-calling can hurt other children. Most kids are very understanding when it comes to wanting to avoid hurting others. They may simply not understand the exact power that their words can have. Taking time to sit down and discuss how being called names makes a person feel is the best first step to helping them move past it.

Peer pressure can be a major influence in name-calling. A popular bully begin tormenting another student, and it can be difficult to speak up about it. Talking about ways to help others and stand up to bullies is a great way to help otherwise good kids stop the bullying of name-calling. Remind your kids that countering name-calling with more name-calling does not help. It can be tempting to want to lash out at a bully for their actions, but doing so only continues the cycle.

Parents can help kids to see the good in being different. Often, differences are the backbone of name-calling simply because it is seen as wrong or strange. However, being unique is something that should be celebrated. Discuss diversity and the beauty the comes from being different. There are many great books on the subject that parents can read with their children to help them. A few good choices are:

- David's Drawings by Cathryn Falwell
- I Love My Hair! by Natasha Tarpley
- Jack and Jim by Kitty Crowther

During No Name-Calling Week, parents can make an effort to talk with their kids about these subjects frequently. The more conversations parents have with their kids about the effects of name-calling, the more kids will understand just how negative this action can be.