Children’s author Trudy Ludwig came to Rocky River with a tool belt of tricks to help kids combat bullying.
On Tuesday, February 9, Ludwig gave two presentations at Goldwood Primary School that centered around bullying and what children can do to protect themselves and their friends. She gave similarly themed, but slightly older-skewing presentations the day before at Kensington Intermediate School.
At Goldwood, Ludwig began by listing physical characteristics and asked kids to raise a hand if they thought she was describing a characteristic of a bully. Hands shot in the air when she used words and phrases like “wears all black,” “wears a shirt with a skull on it,” “tattoos,” and “hairy.”
Then the casually dressed, non-tattooed Ludwig pointed out that she had none of those characteristics but had once been a bully herself, back in fourth grade. She demonstrated that being a bully was as easy as putting on a hat, which she referred to as “the bully hat.” Taking it off, of course, is just as easy.
Ludwig read her story, The Invisible Boy, about a boy who feels invisible until someone is kind to him. She pointed out subtleties in illustrator Patricia Barton’s artwork, which used body language and colors to depict the boy’s feelings.
Finally, Ludwig used student volunteers to help her demonstrate a collection of tools for dealing with bullying. Six children each told her something unkind (a few needed a teacher to help come up with a mean idea)—something like “I don’t like your earrings” or “ugly boots.” The author and children’s advocate responded to each insult with a different tool, including changing the subject, asking “why?” over and over, say “stop,” “so what?”, acting goofy, and simply walking away.
Armed with six tools in their anti-bullying toolbelt, Goldwood students returned to class with a renewed feeling of power in the fight against bullying.
Trudy Ludwig’s visit was sponsored by the Rocky River Education Foundation.