lisa cavallaro

Reading Time: 3 minutes A bully can’t bully if he doesn’t have someone to push around. It’s a matter of supply and demand.

As smart phones hit the market, the demand for flip phones dramatically dwindled. The same decline can happen with bullying.

There’s so much bullying in our faces because we’re making the bully dance be all about the bullies… when that is not the case.

Reading Time: 3 minutes As we know, reality can change. What we believe today is what influences our future reality and what we encourage kids to believe today will influence  their future reality.

Reminding ourselves every day what we  want to believe about kids and then looking for reasons to believe it is the best way I know of to maintain focus when the chatter around us gets loud.

Look at it this way… even if the adults don’t agree, it’s really the kids whose buy-in matters most anyway. 

Reading Time: 3 minutes Confidence is a feeling… and we’ll feel confident when we think confident thoughts. 

For anyone… especially kids struggling to fit in among peers… learning confidence can be life-altering. We don’t have to deserve it, work for it, be worthy of it or achieve it. Instead, the way we learn it is to  be  it. Confidence is a state of mind that results from thinking confident thoughts and enjoying confident feelings.

As parents, we can help kids create a confident mindset they’ll benefit from all throughout their lives.

Reading Time: 3 minutes We need to let kids know they have a right to stand up and speak up. They’re entitled to express their viewpoints and they’re entitled to practice expressing them. 

Knowing when it’s the right time to speak up and when it’s best to remain silent is a muscle worth exercising. But permanently shutting down is never ever recommended.

As parents and teachers, it’s our job to help kids feel more comfortable communicating with the challenging people in their lives. It begins with modeling the skills we want them to cultivate and continues with conversations when specific instances arise in their lives.

Reading Time: 2 minutes Encourage kids to see what’s perfect about them right now as they are this very minute. Point out what makes them unique and special. Talk about their gifts and talents. Help them discover what they’re passionate about and help them find ways to use their gifts to explore and pursue their passion. 

Reading Time: 3 minutes Let’s face it… no one deserves to be disrespected by another person. But unfortunately, it does happen and when it does, we need to be smart. If we’re not, there’s a good chance we’ll forever be the perfect targets of more bully behavior.

Reading Time: 3 minutes After hearing her mom’s message reinforced by a complete stranger, hopefully, the message actually sank into the girl’s brain. Hopefully, now this girl is owning the great qualities she possesses and truly believes she’s successful, amazing and full of great energy.

Reading Time: 3 minutes We don’t want to hurt anyone, so we speak to everyone.
We speak up without getting too specific. We play it safe hoping the people who need to hear our message will get it, and they won’t be embarrassed by the delivery.