RSS | 
Twitter
| 
Be a fan!
Put an end to the pain
The youngsters heard loud and clear the “hands are not for hitting” message the Washington Women’s Shelter recently brought to Allison Park Elementary School in the Chartiers-Houston School District.
“Bullying is bad. Nobody’s going to be friends with you, and you’ll end up not being a nice person,” 8-year-old Andrew said. “Hands are useful for other things, like painting.”
Kasey, his third-grade classmate, said she learned “not to smack your brother,” admitting that even though it’s OK to get angry, there are more appropriate ways to channel your emotions. She suggested tightly closing your eyes, squeezing your fingers together or running toward a pillow.
Rate This Story:
1 the lowest - 5 the highest
Current rating:
“If it’s going to end up getting violent, it’s easier to stand up to a bully with friends than just one. The bully will back down,” Andrew said.
Although the Washington Women’s Shelter conducts educational programs on bullying, cyberbullying and dating violence in schools throughout the year, this is the first time its outreach was coordinated at every grade level in conjunction with Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Seven of the 14 school districts in Washington County agreed to participate.
“I was a little nervous at first,” said Michelle Piaggesi, a social worker with Intermediate Unit 1 who is based full time in the Chartiers-Houston School District. “I thought it might be a little heavy for the kids.”
But the messages were encouraging and age-appropriate, she said, and the program produced plenty of positive interaction.
At the elementary level, students made murals of their handprints, and middle school students created anti-bullying posters and wrote poems. The posters will be on display at Washington Crown Center for one week, beginning tomorrow.
“The assembly was really hard-hitting on anti-violence, but soft enough for kindergarten children to understand,” Piaggesi said.
Every 15 seconds in the United States, someone is a victim of domestic violence, and most victims are between the ages of 16 and 24. According to Lisa Hannum, prevention/education coordinator for the Washington Women’s Shelter, 400 protection-from-abuse orders were filed in Washington County in fiscal 2008, and the shelter provided services to 1,104 new clients.
Hence, it’s important, Hannum said, for the shelter to continue to expand its domestic violence awareness crusade. “We even teach it in preschool, just to get that idea out there that hands are not for hitting,” Hannum said.
The purple ribbon campaign the shelter started several years ago is perhaps its most visible endeavor, with 23 Washington County communities on board this year, and local libraries set an empty table to honor victims of domestic violence, particularly women who have been murdered.
High school students throughout the county organized their own community service projects – Chartiers-Houston, for instance, raised $150 by selling the ribbons – and the shelter enlisted the help of students from California University of Pennsylvania and Washington & Jefferson College to distribute literature to area businesses.
Hannum and Samantha Lee, community education specialist and counselor for the shelter, said it’s never too early to start driving the anti-violence message home, especially since students often are adversely influenced by technology and pop culture.
But, in a rather ironic twist, one poster depicts rapper Kanye West interrupting a bully. It was just a few weeks ago that West “bullied” Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. Another poster, in a tribute to pop icon Michael Jackson, claims: “MJ says bullying is bad. It’s bad. It’s bad. It’s really, really bad.”
“An abuser is a bully,” Hannum said. “They’re trying to control someone, and domestic violence is all about power and control.”
Home
