Recently the “Love Changes It All Tour” visited middle schools in Henry County, Virginia. As part of the school’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) program, they invited me to train their middle school students and staff with skills to stop social aggression and help students protect their feelings from being hurt by unkind behavior.
Southside Bureau Reporter Colter Anstaett of WSLS 10 News in Roanoke was there to capture some of the action as students took to the stage and learned how to stop bullying in a matter of minutes.
Resilience education is key. Without it, students often respond to bullying by reciprocating mean behavior. In other words, they treat people the way that they first treat them. The “Peace Sign Approach”, teaches students psychological skills to combat bullying with kindness.
You may think I’m crazy when I say to treat your enemy as your friend, but ask yourself these questions.
If you treat your enemy like an enemy, will they want to…
1. Like you or hate you?
2. Fight you or leave you alone?
3. Respect you or disrespect you?
if you treat an enemy the way they treat you, you’ll be seen as mean and miserable. The Golden Rule, however, offers us hope. It’s the oldest solution to the modern day bullying problem. In fact, the Golden Rule is so popular that it’s basis to every major religion in the world, though it speaks of no god or deity. It teaches not to treat people the way they treat you but rather to treat others the way that you want to be treated.
When you treat your enemy like a friend (or “kill them with kindness”) it instantly throws them off their game. You will see that any aggressive person will quickly become confused when their target doesn’t get upset and treats them like a friend.
For more on the “Peace Sign Approach” to bullying, sign up for my free training video and try it for yourself.