Healthy Self Love Program


Most adults would be surprised, if not shocked, as to why a child as young as 5 years of age, would exclude another child either verbally or through an aggressive act.  Such behaviours could occur on Day 1 of a new school year!  This is not the fault of the school or the classroom teacher.  However teachers and the school may be blamed unfairly by a parent who doesn’t understand what is happening in the world of the child.

If what schools have been doing in recent years to address the bullying issue has failed to produce the desired result, then there might be a need for a new and different approach.  As Einstein once said:

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

While teachers wish to eradicate certain behaviours, these behaviours are the result of a certain ‘species’ of thinking.   Thinking drives behaviour.  If we wish to reduce an inappropriate behaviour, we need to target the thinking which generates the behaviour.

The approach to bullying education presented in this seminar, teaches teachers how to target the dysfunctional thinking that is linked to bullying behaviours and replace that thinking with higher order thinking.

For the last eight years, I have been engaging children and teens in conversation about ‘why they bully.’ They have been most frank in offering their reflections on the topic. A remarkable consistency has been detected   across Australia, New Zealand and England. Australia is a multicultural nation. In some schools there are over 100 nationalities. Yet there is a consistency in the answers provided by the students ranging from Years 2 to 12. In some Asian countries, classrooms are almost entirely composed of children of the same nationality.  Yet bullying exists among these children. Why?

It is all about DIFFERENCE and DIFFERENCES.

Children are envious of one another’s (perceived) assets, such as personal appearance, material assets, family background, personal talents, academic giftedness and the like….and jealous of another person’s popularity, social status within a group, relationships with the opposite sex.

These are the common core issues related to bullying. But just how does a teacher (or parent) engage in assisting students to rise above envy and jealousy regarding such matters? Answer: either book a seminar with your staff …or attend a regional seminar presented b Robert Pereira.  Contact:  robertpereira32@bigpond.com 

Course Facilitator 

Robert Pereira,
B.A. Dip. Ed. (Macquarie University, Sydney)
M.A. Hons (Fordham University, New York)
Trainer: Effectiveness Training Institute of Australia (Parent-, Teacher ET)
Narrative Therapy: level-II (Dulwich Centre)
Educational consultant to schools

Robert inservices school staffs throughout Australia, assisting teachers to respond more proactively to the subtle manifestations of bullying that occur in every school. He has also worked in schools in New Zealand, and conducts courses in Seoul/Korea as well as in Singapore. He is the author of the Resource entitled: ‘Why We Bully.’  In this publication, he provides parents and teachers with insights into ‘why’ children bully, gleaned from the actual students’ responses to the lessons he has conducted with them in class settings. This resource can only be acquired through the author, at: robertpereira32@bigpond.com  Cost: A$ 24.95 (+postage A$ 10.00 to overseas addresses)
 
© Spiritus Coaching 2009