Tips for Bullying

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The Office Depot Foundation – the independent, nonprofit philanthropic arm of Office Depot - in partnership with Brooks Gibbs, one of the nation’s leading youth crisis counselors and bullying experts - is rolling out its “Be The Difference. Speak Up Against Bullying!” program in middle schools across the U.S. during the upcoming school year, with support from the global pop sensation band One Direction and Office Depot.

Gibbs, author of the book Love is Greater Than Hate, is conducting school assemblies for students as well as anti-bullying education sessions for parents, teachers and administrators around the nation throughout the school year. The campaign aims to give students the confidence and courage to use the Golden Rule as a strategy for reducing bullying. Gibbs’ “treat everyone like friends - even your enemies” philosophy enhances One Direction’s message of “Live Nice.”

Tips for anyone who finds themselves the victim of a bully:

1.       Refuse to get mad – Disable the anger button in your brain and show the bully he can try all he wants, but he won’t get you mad.  The natural response is to get angry, but you can decide not to.

2.       Treat everything as the words of your best friends – This sounds crazy but it works.  No matter how nasty or angry people can be, tell yourself the only reason they are talking this way is because they love you, care about you and want to help you.  It doesn’t mean you have to treat them as if they are right or do whatever they tell you. 

3.       Don’t be afraid of bullies – Our bullies will never stop bullying us if we continue to be afraid of them.  Even if they are bigger and stronger than you, most of them are not the evil villains you have been imagining them to be.  (if they have a history of violent behavior, they are criminals or have other issues and stay away from them).

4.       Don’t attack bullies – If we attack bullies, even if they attacked us first, we are letting them know we consider them enemies.  So we can expect them to treat us like enemies.

5.       Don’t defend yourself – The harder we defend ourselves, the bigger we lose, and the bully will continue attacking to force us into the losing defensive position.

6.       Don’t tell on bullies – Despite what most people say, telling on bullies, except under rare circumstances, is the worst thing you can do.  It’s the best way to make the bullies despise you.  The bully will respect you more if you can work out the problem with him or her on your own.  

7.       Show you are hurt, not angry – If you show the bully anger, he or she will respond with anger.  Show the bully you are hurt and he or she is more likely to apologize and avoid hurting you again. 

This year, to mark the 13^th anniversary of the National Backpack Program, the Office Depot Foundation will donate 300,000 backpacks with essential school supplies to deserving children in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and internationally. By the end of 2013, Office Depot and the Office Depot Foundation will have donated more than 3 million backpacks and sackpacks since the inception of the program in 2001. But while these numbers are very large, the sackpacks make an impact on a singular level − one child at a time.