FORT RILEY, Kan. -- On Aug. 10, members of the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Riley Safety Office set up a table in the main Post Exchange to promote awareness of bullying in schools.
They handed out backpacks with pencils, anti-bullying coloring book and crayons along with an informational pamphlet to help parents talk with their children about bullying.
"What we wanted to do is emphasize the importance of parents talking to their kids about how to handle bullying," said Garrison Safety Coordinator Dawn Douglas. "That's a difficult topic though. If you ask a kid if they are being bullied, chances are the kid is going to say no. Bullying is intimidating, embarrassing and sometimes kids just have a difficult time talking about it."
The Anti-Bullying Institute states that one in seven students, kindergarten through 12th grade, is either a bully or has been a victim of bullying and an estimated 160,000 children miss school every day in the United States due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students.
"Bullying can be ostracizing a kid because he sticks out," Douglas said. "Maybe he doesn't have the latest tennis shoes, or maybe this kid looks a little different from the other kids, or maybe this kid just PCS'd from another duty station and he is coming into an environment where the kids have been together for a while and he is just the odd kid out. Not because he is so different, but because nobody knows him."
Douglas said the students today have access to technology that allows for another level of bullying -- cyber bullying.
"Bullying can happen in many shapes and forms," she said. "Lots of kids are just fearful of going into the restroom sometimes because they are isolated with a bunch of kids. We live in a society now that we have the Internet that allows people to speak freely differently than how they would speak in front of a person's face."
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"As long as kids are kids they are going to act the way kids act," Douglas said. "Parents have to do their part obviously to teach their kids about bullying."
The backpacks being handed out were a way for the Safety Office staff to meet with parents and raise awareness to bullying and put a stop motion tactic in place before it happens, hopefully.
"As adults we understand that there's certain etiquettes with living in a civilized society," Douglas said. "Kids are just learning that. Kids are bullied for a variety of different reasons and you can't always say 'don't do that' and expect for your kid to listen to you. Peer pressure plays a part in that as well. Some kids are leaders and some are natural followers. It can happen in any society and any situation."
The coloring book, produced by the Kansas Traffic Resource Safety Office, talked not only about how to react to being bullied or when someone else is bullied, it covers more, Douglas said.
"This talks about being a good citizen in a community," she said. "Not only does it try to give kids who are being bullied a voice, but also talks to those who may be bullies who feel they need to exert power or authority over kids they might feel are weaker kids. It happens quite often. When you are talking about elementary school kids they are in their maturity phases. Sometimes they don't quite understand the power they have. When they start in school they have to find out where they fit in -- some kids are encouraged to do bad things they wouldn't normally do."
For USAG Safety Director Rick Hearron, the day was about not only bullying but one final reminder before school started on Aug. 13 about school safety.
"We have the bullying theme for the backpacks, but we are talking back-to-school safety," he said. "It's the entire realm of keeping your kids safe during the school year -- walking or biking to school, getting on a school bus, making sure you're staying visible to the bus driver. It's the entire element that we are trying to push out, not just the bullying part."
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