Bullying, Kids & KidsHelpPhone

I remember a boy, in elementary school - a grade above me, who was bullied. Really badly bullied. Like jacket ripped bullied. Like moved to tears bullied. Like isolated from the whole school bullied. He must have gone through hell.

Parent Club recently had the opportunity to interview Shawna Ginsberg, a counselor, at Kids Help Phone to discuss bullying & kids. No one ever wants to see their kids being bullied...but if it happens perhaps this information can help.

Parent Club: What is a parent to do when they see their child bullied at school?

Shawna Ginsberg:

Empathize with your child, but don't encourage them to be a victim. Instead, build on their strengths by asking them what they have already tried, and making other suggestions.

Are other adults that they trust aware of the problem? Teachers? Guidance counsellor? Coach? Have they helped to end the harassment?

Support them to be involved in their choices and making decisions about how they handle the problem. This empowers them and thus builds confidence and resiliency.

Encourage different peer interactions with different groups of people. This is a great way to make friends, instead of sticking with one person or one peer group.

Things to remember...

you are not alone - many young people struggle with these issues (check out the posts under bullying at http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/AskUsOnline.aspx )

do what is right (carrying a weapon, or throwing a punch might get you into trouble.)

keep your cool whenever possible

share your feelings with people you trust

it's not your fault - no one deserves to be abused.

it is okay to ask for help.

I don't know what happened to that boy in elementary school. As a grown up, looking back, I feel so badly for him. He must have felt so powerless. So alone. No child should have to feel that way about going to school.

KidsHelpPhone.ca is a FREE Canadian service for counselling for kids & teens with options to speak live with a counsellor, ask a question on line or read their articles. Open 24/7 and bilingual it is a great resource for kids (and Parents - you can "get-in-the-know" on their site too).

This post is NOT sponsored - we really feel that Kids Help Phone is an important service to share with the Parent Club.

Toronto Public Library - Free French Programs

En Français
Programmes gratuits pour enfants
ÉTÉ 2010

Veuillez appeler directement la bibliothèque (numéro de téléphone à droite) pour avoir des renseignements d'inscription sur chaque programme.

Âge 3 à 5 ans
Histoires Bilingues (Inscription requise)
Burrows Hall (Est), jeudi du 8 juillet au 5 août, 14h

Âge 5 à 10 ans
Musique et Contes d’Afrique-Njacko Backo
Bridlewood (Est) mardi 10 août, 14h
Théâtre interactif avec les Productions CNG
Albion (Ouest), mercredi le 7 juillet, 14h30
Cliffcrest (Est), mardi 13 juillet 14h

Don Mills (Nord/Est) jeudi 22 juillet, 14h
Malvern (Est) vendredi 9 juillet, 14h

Tante Caroline et sa marionnette Noisette
Bloor/Gladstone (Sud-Ouest), mercredi 28 Juillet, 10h
Fairview (Nord) mardi 27 juillet, 14h
Maria A. Shcuhuka (Ouest), mercredi 28 juillet, 14h
Parliament (Sud), mardi 27 juillet, 10h

Danse en français avec Danse-Partout
Mimico (Ouest), vendredi 20 août, 10h30
Sanderson (Sud) mardi 13 juillet, 10h30

Quel Fouillis! avec Mireille Messier
Danforth-Coxwell (Sud/Est) mardi 20 juillet, 14h
Woodside Square (Est) mercredi 21 juillet, 14h

Chansons traditionnelles du Québec et de la France avec Philippe Flahaut
Richview (Ouest) lundi 12 juillet, 14h15
S.Walter Stewart (Sud/Est) vendredi 16 juillet, 14h

Programme musical Interactif avec Grace Morisson
Main (Sud) mardi 6 juillet, 10h30
Comment est ton sens de l’odorat? Amuse-toi tout en le développant
Dufferin St-Clair (Sud/Ouest) mardi 6 juillet, 14h

Pour de l’information générale, appelez au 416-395-5762 www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

Art tip...

If you are at a loss for something to do...surf over to HUGOESCARGOT. This francophone website has over 8,000 images available for you to print off and colour. From popular comics like Dora, SpongeBob, and Winx to seasonal and birthday images...it is a great resource.

(Birthday tip; print off a bunch of colouring pages and have a colouring table for the kids. Tons of fun and an easy activity for most age groups).

For the French Immersion, Francophone or Francophile families; this website has popular kids recipes, free games, crafts and song lyrics.

Make your own ABC Book

Ready for something new? Get out your digital camera and create a customized ABC book for your family. You could make a true ABC book starting with a photo of an Apple and ending with a close-up of your child's Zipper.

Smaller sized project ideas include;

• morning routine - take pictures of toothbrush, hairbrush, potty, cereal bowl. Underwear, socks, pants & shirt.


• What do I wear? - take pictures of mittens, warm hat, snow pants, boots.


• Who do I love? - take pictures of siblings, pets, parents, grandparents, friends.


• Yummy foods - take pictures of favourite dishes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks


• What are my chores? - take pictures of child making his/her bed, putting water in pet's bowl, child doing homework, child reading a book.

Then print the pictures on your home computer or at your photo shop. You can laminate pictures at a business shop for a more lasting book. Bind with spiral binding or rings.

This is a good learning tool for pre-readers. Also, it's a good tool to introduce French vocabulary by creating a bilingual or French version.

Here are some great books for kids that help develop vocabulary and reading skills. What I like about them is that they incorporate images into the sentences so that pre-readers can participate in reading by naming the images. We even uses the images as games for de-briefing (i.e. can you find a pink bow? Where is the glass jar?).

Sourimousse (a series of books) by François Gilson et Peral. French books. Temporarily out of stock at amazon and indigo, check a local french bookstore to see if they have them in stock. Vocabulary images at front and back of the books.

Not So Perfect Princess by Nicola Baxter. Also, author of the Not So Perfect Ballerina. English. Books. Both books have an imperfect main character who makes mistakes but it's OK not to be perfect. Vocabulary images run along side each page.

Francophone event

Campagne des Paniers
Dec. 1. l'Atrium de Radio-Canada 9h - midi. 250 rue Front Ouest.

Activitiés pour toute la famille, petite-déjeuners, coin des enfants, Pére Noel et un grand spectacle.
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Activities for the whole family, breakfast, children’s area, Santa Claus and a show.

Donations accepted to help francophone families in need.

Fortune Tellers

Remember origami fortune tellers?...Before Hanna Montanna, Pixel Chicks and barbie.com; little girls passed their time engaging in creative, hands-on play. Well, this craft is back in full force, as my child says, EVERYONE in her class knows how to make fortune tellers.

Thanks to youtube you can watch step by step video of fortune teller making. Templates are also widely available (google; origami fortune teller template).

As an educational support to this; we have located a template where your child can improve his/her French. French-FortuneTellerTemplate (yes, click that) will take you to a printable template (in Word or Adobe) whereby you can print, fold and have fun.

Note; if you save in Word to your documents you can customize the French sentences using the edit text box feature.

Bilingual Child - resources on the web

As an anglophone parent, of a bilingual child...I have done much research into fun franco resources for pre-schoolers & school aged children. Surfing the web, in French, can be a fun (and gulp -- educational) family activity. Of course, always supervise your children when they are on the Internet. I once typed in a princess name into the search box -- only the search didn't take me to anything Disney...rather to many XXX pop-ups. Lesson learned...Don't leave kids & computers alone together -- the computer doesn't talk the language of age-appropriate.

Here are some tried & true recommended franco sites:

http://www.hugolescargot.com/ - French colouring pages, games, activities
http://amazon.ca/ - a great selection of French books (by age range and reading readiness)
http://www.tfo.org/cfmx/tfoorg/tfo/ - has websites/games for pre-schoolers as well as tweens (also has a homework hotline called SOS DEVOIRS for kids in French school).
http://www.teteamodeler.com/dossier/cuisine/cuisine.asp - cooking with kids en francaise