Yesterday was national Pink Shirt Day in Canada. It was a day to raise awareness about the prevention of bullying and to promote kindness. Bullying can take place anywhere – home, online, work and at school….even at Wesley.
By asking our community to wear pink shirts, we hoped to encourage discussions to take place to help each other understand
- what is bullying
- the different types of bullying (e.g. physical, verbal, social/relational, cyber, etc.)
- what should be done if you are bullied
- what you should do if you see someone being bullied
This year, not only were students and staff wearing different shades of pink, we saw a great variety of messages on those shirts. Each promoting kindness and peace.
Students also participated in activities to generate awareness, discussion and reflection on what it means to be kind and how to stop bullying. Our youngest students participated in simple activities such as colouring outlines of pink shirts.
Some of our Grade 8 students extended that same idea but answered questions (e.g. What is bullying? How does it feel to be bullied? What should we do when we are bullied? Share a Bible verse that helps us know how to treat others. etc.) on their pink t-shirt cut-outs, which had a back and front side.
Other classes used special worksheets with prompts to engage students to think about topics such as “Why does kindness matter?” or wrote reflections about what things they can do to be kind, inclusive and ensure others feel they belong. Anti-bullying stories, books, and videos were also shared in various classrooms.
It is our hope that by creating awareness and encouraging one another to show God’s love and kindness to everyone, we are taking steps together to reduce and end bullying and to create a more loving world.
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19