Bully Busting: How to Help Children Deal With Teasing and Bullying

Rating:
Summary: Nothing's Perfect, But This is Very Good
Review: Evelyn Field is a former school psychologist who is now in private practice. In "Bully-Busting", Ms. Field starts by giving her theories about how some kids become bullies and others become targets. Her theories on how kids become bullies are not new, but are very well-stated. When it comes to describing how other kids become targets, she very carefully avoids blaming-the-victim while talking about how there are a set of skills and resources that kids can have to avoid becoming targets or to handle bullying, and not everyone has those skills. In the second half of this book, Ms. Field describes a set of six skill-building areas that will enable a child to avoid being a target of bullies and/or handle any bullying that does come their way. Throughout the book, the author blends pieces of her own personal experience, her experience as a school psychologist, her experience in private practice, and information she has obtained from people contacting her to talk about methods/variations they have found to be useful.

"Bully-Busting" contains many fun drawings that will make the book more appealing to younger kids, but those drawings might have the opposite effect on older kids. There are also many exercises or worksheets; some are aimed at kids, some are aimed at parents, and some are aimed at parents working together with their children.

The strongest part of the book is its very concrete and explicit description of behaviors children can use to enhance and display non-aggressive assertiveness. Instead of describing theories of assertiveness, "Bully-Busting" clearly describes things like altering one's stance, tone of voice, eye contact, and language usage. At times, there are seeming contradictions, especially related to whether a child, who is being bullied should display or disguise their his or her feelings in the presence of the bully, but a careful reading shows that the author acknowledges the seeming contradiction and addresses the factors that go into deciding whether to display anger toward a bully.

One reservation I have about this book relates to my own work with children who fit the State of Michigan's definition of "severely emotionally disturbed": some of the techniques described would not work with children who have severe emotional problems, as they are engaging in and/or dealing with harassment at a higher level than is found amongst most children, and some of these tactics would just open the child up to being ridiculed. However, many described tactics would work, even with the most disturbed children.

Ms. Field lives and works in Australia, and this book does contain a few colloquialisms that were a challenge. From the context, I think a "tuckshop" is a cafeteria, and I'm guessing that a "fun parlour" is like a video arcade.

Overall, this is a 4.5-star book that contains material that is useful to parents, therapists, school staff, and the children we work with.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing's Perfect, But This is Very Good
Review: Evelyn Field is a former school psychologist who is now in private practice. In "Bully-Busting", Ms. Field starts by giving her theories about how some kids become bullies and others become targets. Her theories on how kids become bullies are not new, but are very well-stated. When it comes to describing how other kids become targets, she very carefully avoids blaming-the-victim while talking about how there are a set of skills and resources that kids can have to avoid becoming targets or to handle bullying, and not everyone has those skills. In the second half of this book, Ms. Field describes a set of six skill-building areas that will enable a child to avoid being a target of bullies and/or handle any bullying that does come their way. Throughout the book, the author blends pieces of her own personal experience, her experience as a school psychologist, her experience in private practice, and information she has obtained from people contacting her to talk about methods/variations they have found to be useful.

"Bully-Busting" contains many fun drawings that will make the book more appealing to younger kids, but those drawings might have the opposite effect on older kids. There are also many exercises or worksheets; some are aimed at kids, some are aimed at parents, and some are aimed at parents working together with their children.

The strongest part of the book is its very concrete and explicit description of behaviors children can use to enhance and display non-aggressive assertiveness. Instead of describing theories of assertiveness, "Bully-Busting" clearly describes things like altering one's stance, tone of voice, eye contact, and language usage. At times, there are seeming contradictions, especially related to whether a child, who is being bullied should display or disguise their his or her feelings in the presence of the bully, but a careful reading shows that the author acknowledges the seeming contradiction and addresses the factors that go into deciding whether to display anger toward a bully.

One reservation I have about this book relates to my own work with children who fit the State of Michigan's definition of "severely emotionally disturbed": some of the techniques described would not work with children who have severe emotional problems, as they are engaging in and/or dealing with harassment at a higher level than is found amongst most children, and some of these tactics would just open the child up to being ridiculed. However, many described tactics would work, even with the most disturbed children.

Ms. Field lives and works in Australia, and this book does contain a few colloquialisms that were a challenge. From the context, I think a "tuckshop" is a cafeteria, and I'm guessing that a "fun parlour" is like a video arcade.

Overall, this is a 4.5-star book that contains material that is useful to parents, therapists, school staff, and the children we work with.