What is Violence?

 Violence is a behavior intended to hurt someone physically, mentally, or socially. Violence can occur in many forms such as abuse, bullying, sexually, and crime. People may behave in such a way because they were taught that way, they were bullied, they've abused or have used drugs, or they were pressured to do so. The most common type of violence due to research done by the IRC is domestic violence. Violence DOES START AT HOME. The best way to prevent violence throughout our children and adults is to remember that the way you act at home is the way you act around people and in public.  

Red Ribbon Week!!!

Happy Red Ribbon Week! 
   Red Ribbon Week: do we all know the true meaning? Red Ribbon week is used to address the nation's issues with drugs, alcohol, and violence. It is to bring awareness not just to schools, but to everyone. Red Ribbon Week began with the murder of the DEA Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985. He was working undercover in Mexico and his discoveries led to very successful results. As revenge the leaders of the groups killed many of the informants and Enrique was one of them. In honor of his work his community wore red ribbons and slowly they became a symbol of drug prevention.
 

For more information: http://redribbon.org/

Girls or Boys?

  Lately we were thinking who's bullied more girls or boys, and how do the certain genders differ in bulling style. Since girls prefer to hang out with peers they create a clique formed around a leader. In that so to speak clique they are more likely to use a form of verbal bullying. They will create rumors and verbally harass the girl or group to show that she is unwelcome.  The girl or leader may bully the excluded girl because she feels that the other girl is competition or does not reach her standards. Boys will bully in a whole other way that is more physical. Boys are more than likely to physically hurt the other kid as well as verbally at all educational levels, yet girls bully more at higher ages.
   Even though there are bullying differences between boys and girls the effects are the same. Boys and girls who are bullied may not be able to concentrate on school work, eat less, sleep less, or even consider suicide. This could be prevented if those who are bullied didn't believe that telling someone that they are being bullied would have negative effects other than positive.
  It's not just the ones who are bullied who face the negative effects of bullying. The bully may face the effects of bullying in their future. If they are not taught that bullying is wrong they may be aggressive to others as they age. They may use aggression on their own children continuing the cycle. Studies have proven that girls who were involved in bullying at young ages may experience depression, attempt suicide, or develop eating disorder.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Bullying_Differences

Facebook Depression and Cyberbullying Another Form of Violence

    Facebook is a social website used to connect with friends and family. You can chat with others and enjoy games while on the site. Unfortunately, doctors say "Facebook Depression" is caused by teens' addiction to the site. Facebook pages can make some kids feel worse if they feel they don't measure up to the others on the site. Facebook can  provide a skewed view of whats going on. A student may sit alone in the school cafeteria, yet online have a great social life and say that everything's okay. Like texting, on Facebook you don't see how others react or feel. Facebook may be a good way to talk to friends, but it's just another way for teens to experience cyberbullying. Doctors push parents to talk to their children about cyberbullying, Facebook Depression, and other online risks. Let's try to stop all these popularity contests that come with Facebook.

How many children die a year?

  A question we often ask to many people is how many kids do they think die a year? The answer we most often get is 100 to 200 tops. The estimated number according to research done in 2003 says that over 10 million children die each year. That's just of car crashes, diseases, and accidents. It doesn't include suicidal actions, abuse, shootings, and bullying. Imagine all those numbers combined. It almost sounds impossible.

When you think of child abuse do you think pain and death or do you think that its something rare that it's not even worth talking about? A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds, and more than five children die every day as a result of child abuse. Approximately 80% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4. 50-60% of child fatalities due to abuse are not recorded as such on death certificates. It is estimated that 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse. The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2008 is $124 billion.

Check out this website to learn more about the issue of child abuse-
http://www.childhelp.org

Suicide and bullying statistics

   Though many adults still see bullying as "part of being a kid," it's a huge cause to the large numbers of suicide in the U.S. Most people don't realize the link between bullying and suicide. The third leading cause of death among young people is suicide, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.The bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. According to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying
Read more at- http://www.bullyingstatistics.org