Schools

Expert: A Smarter Way of Dealing With Bullies

Dr. Claudio Cerullo discusses ways of dealing with bullying.

Nearly everyone has been bullied, but Dr. Claudio V. Cerullo told parents that there are alternative ways of dealing with bullies.

Hosted by the Chestnutwold PTO at the last Wednesday evening, Cerullo said at the that bullying is an imbalance of power and negative dominance.

And bullying takes various forms, from the traditional verbal taunts, name calling and getting into physical fights, to threats, extortion and the newest form in the last few years, cyberbullying where text messages and Facebook postings, among others, are used to insult the victim.

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explained to those in attendance of a cyberbullying summit that her then 13-year-old daughter hung herself after being tormented by online bullies.

Cerullo spoke greatly about cyberbullying. Using a PowerPoint presentation, which he emailed to the Haverford-Havertown Patch and can be viewed as a PDF accompanying this article, Cerullo said that cyberbullying has been experienced at least one time by 43 percent of children and teenagers from the ages of 10 to 18.

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In addition, he said that girls claim to have been cyberbullied more than boys, from 51 percent to 37 percent. 

But Cerullo shared a story close to him, one about his daughter, Isabelle, a second grader. He explained that earlier this school year that his young daughter was being picked on by an older student named Dominic, who kept calling her “Lizzy.”

Cerullo told her that he should tell the boy to stop teasing her. When this did not work, Cerullo instructed her to tell the bus driver. However, this did not stop.

And when speaking with her teacher did not work, Cerullo met Dominic’s father at a school function and he took the opportunity to explain the situation with him, which did not stop the teasing. 

It was only when Cerullo spoke with the principal of his daughter’s school was the boy removed from the bus and the bullying stopped.

“But I taught her how to handle the incident herself,” he said.

Cerullo, who is the founder of Teach Anti Bullying, Inc., discussed ways how children can handle bullying themselves:

  • Tell an adult
  • Talk it out
  • Walk away
  • Distract the bully with a joke
  • Avoid the bully
  • Hang out with new friends

But if there is a direct confrontation and a bully punches a child, Cerullo said that the child could block the punches but not hit back.

He also advised parents that they should monitor the social media websites that their children frequent but not to be too intrusive.

“We are really one family, one community and I’m trying to raise awareness,” Cerullo told Patch after the presentation about why he is trying to educate parents and children about anti-bullying. 

Jeff Spoelker and Daniela Redpath, co-presidents of the Chestnutwold PTO, both said that they were very pleased with Cerullo’s presentation. 

“I hope it has made a difference in someone’s life,” Redpath said, who, along with Spoelker, helped organize the event.

The Haverford School District mentions bullying on its website and offers a policy, which can be found accompanying this article as a PDF.


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