“It's just kid stuff!” Fortunately, statements like this, which have served to justify unacceptable situations of bullying, are, increasingly, a thing of the past. However, that does not prevent bullying from continuing to be a serious problem in our society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between January 2021 and February 2022, 11,229 cases were detected in our country, which unfortunately is today one of those with the highest incidence of bullying in all of Europe.
The unit in Catalonia specialized in this area has managed, since its creation in mid-2021, more than 1,500 interventions and in this course it has already registered more than 400 cases. Identifying the appearance of bullying is not usually easy for teachers or families, because it is often suffered in silence.
All of this causes a feeling of helplessness in the victim that can even lead to tragic situations. It is estimated that bullying affects between 20 and 25% of the student population today, especially in the last years of primary and secondary school. The percentage skyrockets in groups such as highly gifted students, ADHD, autism or Asperger's.
Currently, there is no specific training or clear protocols for detection or action in bullying situations. That is why it is increasingly important that parents, teachers, adolescents and children have the appropriate tools that allow them to get involved in the fight against this social scourge.
Brands can also play a fundamental role in this. ColaCao knows it well. Through the ColaCao Foundation, it has launched the educational initiative Educating against bullying. This online platform with audiovisual content aimed at fathers and mothers, provides useful keys and tools to educate children in self-confidence, empowerment and prevention of abusive situations.
On May 2, International Day against Bullying, the ColaCao Foundation launched the website educandocontraelbullying.com, where we find interactive content that invites us to reflect, through everyday situations, on the dynamics of communication with our children. , and to learn more about the dynamics of bullying. In the videos we can hear valuable testimonies from fathers and mothers, as well as contributions from experts such as the pediatrician Lucía Galán (also known as Lucía Mi Pediatra) or the psychologists Rafa Guerrero and Claudia Pradas.
No one is potentially exempt from bullying. For this reason, the testimonies and reflections of well-known people can be an effective means of making visible a problem that extends to all layers of society. Thus, the journalist Sara Carbonero shows her impressions as a mother concerned about the advance of bullying.
Fellow journalist Carme Chaparro offers her harsh testimony as a victim of these practices in childhood. The former professional boxer Jero García, for his part, offers the other side of the coin: that of someone who, without being barely aware, was a bully as a child and who now helps young people leave these attitudes behind.
So that we are aware of the impact that bullying has on children and adolescents, Chaparro does not hesitate to affirm: “I believe that I am alive today because then there were no social networks.” Actress Yolanda Ramos was also a victim of bullying during her school years. For her, joining this project is something that “I owe to the girl Yolanda and to all the boys and girls who are having a hard time now.”
As Galán explains well, “victims usually lose interest in everything that they were previously passionate about.” Therefore, if they stop “going out with their usual friends and prefer to stay at home”, they suddenly become disinterested in their studies, which causes a sudden drop in their grades, or, on the contrary, they decide to fully immerse themselves in them, it is logical to wonder what could be happening. Communication with children is, therefore, essential. Carbonero explains that, “through the game of choosing what was the best and worst of the day, I got them to tell me that something was happening in class.”
The contents of the ColaCao Foundation offer multiple points of view. Of course, they address the problem of bullying from the perspective of the victims, but also from that of the witnesses – who observe what is happening without bringing it to the attention of adults – or even from the perspective of the harassers.
Every week a new video will be released that will delve into topics such as the warning signs that one must know how to perceive, cyberbullying, the consequences that bullying can leave in adult life, the importance of self-esteem or the various forms of empowerment.
As Javier Coromina, a member of the ColaCao Foundation board of trustees, has pointed out, with this initiative, they seek to stand “at the side of fathers and mothers, and help them, giving them tools and keys to educate their children against bullying.” The objective is to provide content that provides rigor and quality and serves to shed hope and find solutions to difficult situations: “We are aware that there is a lot of noise around these issues. Families tell us that they need light amidst so much uncertainty,” adds Coromina.
The project has had the advice of the NACE association (No to School Bullying), made up of psychologists, lawyers, teachers and other specialized profiles, which has been dedicated to the prevention and intervention in bullying processes for more than 10 years, as well as in supporting and caring for victims and their families free of charge and selflessly.
The aforementioned Galán, Pradas and Guerrero (the latter, a psychologist specialized in education and the child and adolescent brain) will be in charge of providing tools and information to address situations related to bullying in content that will be published weekly, and free of charge, on the project website, as well as on the social networks of ColaCao and Fundación ColaCao.
