'Sesame Street' Launches Anti-Bullying Campaign

NEW YORK -- Big Bird's problems getting into "The Good Birds Club" are at the center of an anti-bullying effort being launched by "Sesame Street."

The venerable PBS show will air a special episode Monday that aims to teach preschoolers how to recognize and combat bullying. The show said Thursday that studies say bullying behavior is seen in children as young as 3, so it's important to get the message across.

In the episode, Big Bird is invited to join the club, but a bully won't let him in and makes fun of him. Desperate to join, Big Bird asks the fairy Abby to make him smaller and change his yellow feathers to blue, but he still doesn't pass muster.

Eventually, it dawns on the characters that the club's leader just wants to make Big Bird feel badly. An adult steps in to smooth ruffled feathers and they form a new club.

Bullying isn't necessarily more prevalent than it used to be, but it's getting more attention for the harm that it can cause, said Trudy Ludwig, who wrote children's books on the topic after her 7-year-old girl was mistreated.

"It's important for kids to understand behaviors that are appropriate and inappropriate," Ludwig said. "They can learn when kids are saying mean things and how to stand up in a safe way."

The show emphasizes the importance of bringing a trusted adult in to the situation but also discusses children's fears of being known as tattle-tales. It's tattling if it's done to hurt another person, reporting if it's done to prevent someone else from getting hurt, Ludwig said.

It's important to report the information to stop children from getting hurt, said Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of education at Sesame Workshop, which makes the TV show.

Truglio is host of a panel discussion on bullying that "Sesame Street" is making available to parents on the show's website, which also offers anti-bullying tips for parents. Subsequent episodes of the show on Oct. 18 and 21 encourage children to be proud of who they are, be accepting of others, and build relationships with kind words.

Comments

[walkeraza]

03:43 PM on 10/19/2011

Can it be considered bullying when we are talking about preschoolers? Preschoolers play games of inclusion and exclusion. They are still learning what it all means. But at this stage of development, won't they be confused by the introduction of an idea like bullying? I think they will just use it as synonymous with "bad guy." The whole thing is thorny. For 3 and 4 year olds, I'd rather just focus on positive role model stories of how we should be behave with our friends that demonstrate kindness, compassion and fairness. This sounds to me like Sesame Street just trying to get media legs on a hot button topic, regardless of how it relates to their specific audience.

[carriedaway]

09:28 AM on 10/17/2011

I am thrilled to see Sesame Street tackle this issue!

[LuvRed14]

03:40 PM on 10/14/2011

Bullying is a hideous experience for victims. "Bullying isn't necessarily more prevalent than it used to be, but it's getting more attention for the harm that it can cause," says Trudy Ludwig. I think Ludwig quote fails to convey that many kids are committing suicide, suffering from trauma, and undergoing counseling for depression, if their parents are keen to what is going on. As a victim of bullying, I know that these children are suffering in silence. The Internet has really magnified the issue because now we have cyberbullying to go along with in-school bullying. Kids nowadays are getting a double dose of peer-hate.

[Robert Morton]

09:24 PM on 10/13/2011

As a retired school psychologist and adjunct professor at BGSU, my eyes water when I read and hear about the bullying epidemic in the news media. I just wrote an aritlce "Is Your Child Bullied?" on my FAMILY JOURNAL site (www.familyjournal1.blogspot.com/) and I hope it gives parents of bullied children some hope. The National Institutes of Health say back in 2004 survey concluded that the prevalence of bullying in U.S. schools suggests a need to devise ways to intervene against bullying. School intervention programs have been shown to be successful and are listed on the free FAMILY JOURNAL site.

I suggest the news media outlets broadcast the effective programs currently installed in many schools! They are comprehensive in nature involving parents, students, school staff and the whole community. Have the schools whose students killed themselves due to bullying in the hallways adopted an anti-bullying program or did they just have the board of education adopt an anti-bullying statement on the student conduct code book? I'll bet each of the school system chickened out and did the later. Hello, lawyers, are you out there? Find out about the researched and effective anti-bullying programs. Make these schools adopt them!!! My free site also has free videos and free newspaper and journal daily updates about bullying. So far, the superintendent's responses sicken me. Sorry, but I’m angry. Robert at FAMILY JOURNAL: www.familyjournal1.blogspot.com/