Transcript PEPLER, Debra

Bullying and Children’s Rights:
It’s not Just about Safety
Debra Pepler
York University &
The Hospital for Sick Children
Rights and Development
• Healthy development of children and
youth depends on healthy relationships.
• Children learn by trial and error
Aboriginal wisdom on child rearing:
Honour children’s mistakes
Rights, Responsibilites,
Development and Bullying
Prevention
• Relationships are the “active
ingredients” of the environment in
which children grow up.
• Why and how do we promote
healthy relationships for healthy
development
Bullying
A Relationship that Violates Rights
Bullying is a relationship problem that
requires relationship solutions:
• Those who bully are learning to use
power aggressively to control and
distress others
• Those who are victimized become
trapped in an abusive relationship.
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author
What Fosters Development?
Nature and Nurture
Children experience their world as an environment of
relationships.
• Relationships are important throughout
development
• Relationships affect all aspects of development –
intellectual, social, emotional, physical,
behavioral, and moral.
Adults are responsible for
the quality of children’s
relationships
What is Developing under
the Skin?
Relationships Matter for the Brain
through Genes and Experiences
The brain adapts with children’s experiences:
If the child has positive experiences, the brain adapts
positively for learning, memory, and regulation.
If the child has stressful experiences, the brain adapts
negatively, with too much or too little response to
any stress.
As the brain develops, the gene expression adapts as
well, leading to further positive or
negative brain development.
How are we doing in
Canada in promoting
healthy relationships for
healthy development?
UNICEF, 2013
UNICEF, 2013
UNICEF, 2013
Why Worry About Bullying?
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Developmental Pathway of
Power and Aggression in
Relationships
Elder
Abuse
Child
Abuse
Marital
Abuse
Dating
Aggression
BULLYING
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Gang
Aggression
Sexual
Harassment
Workplace
Harassment
Binocular Perspective on
Development
Child or youth’s
needs,
strengths,
challenges
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Strategies to Promote Healthy
Relationships
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Self-Awareness
Building Rapport
Scaffolding
Social Architecture
Systems Change
All Children have the Right
To Dignity and To Be Safe!
All children have the right to be respected and
treated with dignity.
All children have the right to be safe.
•UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
•Education Legislation – principals and teachers
have responsibilities to protect students
•Community organizations, including police are
essential partners
Strategies for Building Healthy
Relationships to Prevent Bullying
Healthy relationships approaches require:
• Awareness of potential problems
• Catch problem EARLY; ongoing support
• Communication among adults, between students
and adults, between home and school, etc.
• Support for the most vulnerable children and
youth.
• Self-Awareness, Building Rapport,
Scaffolding, Social Architecture,
and Systems Change,
Why Promoting Relationships
and Eliminating Violence Network in Canada?
Healthy development depends on
healthy relationships.
It Takes A Network to
Raise a Child
• PREVNet’s mission is to
promote healthy relationships
and prevent bullying for all
Canadian children and youth
PREVNet
Promoting Healthy Relationships
• Developing the capacity for healthy
relationships is essential.
• Relationship problems affect children’s
development and have a long-term impact on
families, communities, and society.
• Relationship problems can transfer to the next
generation.
• Knowledge of the processes that shape
development is crucial for prevention and
intervention to promote healthy development,
as well as human and
social capital outcomes.
PREVNet
Promoting Partnerships
In partnerships, community organizations,
police and schools can work to:
– Put necessary developmental
supports in place (scaffolding)
– Organize peer experiences to
reduce bullying and other
antisocial behaviours (social
architecture)
– Develop community-wide
prevention programs
– Divert youth from troubled
pathways
PREVNet Partners
www.prevnet.ca
THANK YOU!
For Helping Bridge Research and Practice
to Promote Healthy Relationships for All Children and Youth
www.prevnet.ca