Success StoryBe Friendship Focused



Be Friendship Focused

Author: Ola Donahue

Planning Unit: Kenton County CES

Major Program: 4-H Youth Development Programming

Plan of Work: 4-H Youth Development

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

Girl bullies do not fit the stereotype of a bully. To most adults a bully is a big kid pushing around another kid half the size. Girl bullies are the popular girls in school and are well liked by adults. She is overconfident and is the “queen bee” of the group telling others what to do and think. Some unsettling statistics a girl is bullied every seven minutes. Almost one-third of girls are directly involved in bullying (as the bully or the bullied). 15% of girls who are bullied tell someone. When girl bullying occurs: 85% of the time no intervention, 11% peer intervention and 4% teacher intervention. Girls bullying can involve the following methods gossiping, teasing/public humiliation, relational blackmail, ostracism/exclusion, creating paranoia, pranks and technology. With a growing problem of Relational Aggression in young girls I have worked with Erlanger /Elsmere Schools to form clubs for girls. .  The purpose of this club was to meet with 4th and 5th grade girls to teach them how to communicate with each other, how to be a good friend, and how to accept those that are different from others. Most importantly the goal was to teach the younger girls how to work together and respect each other before they came together in middle school. To accomplish this I meet with 8 groups of girls during their lunch hour once a month. At the end of the year I asked the girls if they had been bullied before and 95 of them answered yes. I also asked if they had been a bully to others 64 % answered yes. I asked if they had learned what bulling was and how it impacts others and 95% answered yes. 93 % said they would be more careful about how they treated others after attended the classes. After having implemented this program for over 4 years it was time to see if the impact helped in middle school.  The middle school girls were surveyed  64% of the surveys were completed.  83% of the middle girls stated that what they learned in the 4th & 5th grade helped them with their new friendships in middle school. 67% of the middle school girls felt  the Social Media lessons had helped them avoid having issues on Social Media and they were more cautious on Social Media. 83% of the girls stated that lessons they were taught in the BFF Program helped them deal with social issues in middle school.






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