Weekly Caregiver Information
Please note that there are separate videos for this week’s classroom lesson and small group sessions, since the two groups are learning different content. Please watch whichever video(s) are relevant to you and your child!
Classroom Lesson 11
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Welcome back! This week, we’ll review what your child is learning in week eleven of their Coping Power curriculum.
In the previous week’s lesson, your child reviewed all of the coping skills that they have learned so far and began identifying the strategies that are most useful to them. We call this the Coping Power Toolbox. It is important for your child to have multiple skills and strategies in their toolbox so that they aren’t reliant on just one strategy. Sometimes, a specific strategy might not work due to a barrier, like needing to be quiet or still. Your child has been considering various barriers to using certain coping strategies in their Coping Power Toolbox and how to overcome these barriers by using a different, more easily available strategy in the moment.
This week, your child is learning how to respond when they, or a close friend, experiences bullying, either in person or online. Bullying can unfortunately happen anywhere. Outside of school, it might occur in a group setting such as sports practice, summer camp, or even on the school bus. These situations are difficult because adults aren’t always able to monitor every conversation and interaction children are having, and so it is important that children have the skills to effectively stand up to and stop bullying, in addition to not acting as bullies themselves.
Another form of bullying can take place without two people even existing in the same physical space. Bullying can occur over text, social media, and various other internet platforms. We know that children are more and more involved with technology nowadays, and unfortunately that means that we have seen an increase in cyberbullying behaviors in the past few decades. Cyberbullying is very problematic because people can hide behind their computer and say meaner things than they might in-person. Their comments can be very detrimental to the person reading them.
Your child began learning about how to respond to bullying and cyberbullying by being an upstander.
It is very common for people to act as bystanders when they witness bullying. A bystander is someone who witnesses the bullying, and while they don’t take part in the bullying, they also don’t do anything to help the victim either. Your child is learning that being a bystander won’t stop the bullying, and could even make the victim feel worse, by making them believe that everyone else agrees with the bully. Meanwhile, an upstander is a person who is present when bullying occurs but takes positive action. Your child is learning to analyze a bullying situation to determine whether it is safe for them to intervene directly. If it’s safe, they are learning to stand up to the bully by telling them to stop or stating that they disagree with what the bully has said.
Meanwhile, in situations where your child doesn’t feel comfortable intervening directly, they are learning other methods to support the bullying victim, such as showing the victim that they aren’t alone, befriending or talking to the victim, and reporting the conflict to an adult.
Your child is practicing being an upstander in different sample scenarios to get them comfortable with identifying bullying situations and the best way to stop the bullying in each situation. The goal of these practice opportunities is to allow students to take the new skills they are learning and apply them to experiences they may encounter in their real life.
In this week’s power practice, we encourage you to talk with your child about the skills needed to be an upstander. Ask them if they are comfortable taking on this important role, and what feelings they might have about acting as an upstander. Remind them that you and many other adults in their lives are available to support them when they, or their friends, are going through a difficult situation such as bullying. Your child should be comfortable talking to you about bullying that they experience and witness.
You can also brainstorm with your child other ways to be proactive about bullying, both in person and online. Ask them to consider instances where being an upstander might be harder for them. For example, it can be especially hard to act as an upstander if your friend is the person acting as a bully. Help your child think through what they might do in these tough situations.
While we hope that your child will never experience or witness bullying, we know how important it is to prepare them for these challenging experiences! Thank you for helping your child navigate all of these difficult conversations and situations.
We’ll see you next week for our final lesson in the Coping Power curriculum.
Small Group Session 11
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Welcome back, Coping Power Caregivers! As a reminder, this video is specific to your child’s small group session. If you’d like to hear more about this week’s classroom video, please check out the Coping Power Caregivers: Classroom Video as well!
This week, your child is learning about the importance of positive and healthy friendships. They have been brainstorming and learning about the qualities that they might look for in someone else as clues of a good friend, as well as considering how they can be a good friend to their peers. Hopefully this will build their confidence, because by recognizing our own positive qualities and strengths, as well as the positive qualities and strengths of those around us, we can build better, healthier relationships.
Your child is also practicing some new strategies for making friends, whether they’ve struggled with making friends in the past, struggled with healthy, supportive friendships, or are just looking to broaden their social circle. They are practicing starting with a positive approach by smiling and saying “hi,” using good communication skills by being an active listener and asking questions, and finding common ground in conversation with someone else, like finding a shared interest or discussing an event that occurred to them both. Lastly, they are learning how to show their personal strengths in a positive, humble way by offering to help someone in need.
For this week’s power practice, we encourage you to talk with your child about the skills you use when you have to speak with someone new. What reminders do you tell yourself when you are starting a conversation, especially with someone you might like to be friends with?
You can also help your child think about different places where they might be able to meet new people and make friends. Brainstorm together to come up with some positive peer groups at school or in the community that your child might like to join, like a club or sports team. How can you help your child get involved?
Thanks so much for watching, and we’ll see you next week for our final Coping Power session.
Classroom Lesson:
Small Group Session:
Caregiver Feedback Form
We welcome your feedback as we continue to improve the Coping Power program for students and families. Let us know what you thought of this week’s lesson!