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Foothills Boys and Girls Club stands up to bullying on all fronts

The Boys and Girls Club of the Foothills donning pink to take stand against bullying
WW-Shirley Puttock BWC 0394 web
Boys & Girls Club of the Foothills CEO Shirley Puttock in Black Diamond on Feb. 18. Puttock says the club will be joining in for Pink Shirt Day on Feb. 24, but it's a year-round effort to combat bullying.

The Boys and Girls Club of the Foothills (BGCF) will don pink shirts to take a stand against bullying on Feb. 24.

On that day, groups of children in the organization's childcare and after-school programs will participate in exercises to inform about and discuss bullying, as well as lift up their peers through conversation and compliments.

The efforts don’t stop once the day is up.

Club CEO Shirley Puttock said the organization makes a year-round effort. 

“We participate in Pink Shirt Day every year because it brings awareness to bullying, which we know is an ongoing problem in society not only for children and youth, but even adults,” Puttock said. “But throughout the year the staff work with the children on discussing what bullying is, for example, ‘Have you ever been bullied?’, ‘Have you ever been a bully?’, and ‘How does it feel when you're when you're not the bully?’”

The organization engages in year-round efforts to encourage kindness and cohesive behaviour among the youth that attend its programs.

“Throughout the year, they'll do random acts of kindness. They'll do bucket filling with with nice messages for their friends,” Puttock said.

Other efforts include promoting inclusion, giving its youth attendees everyday examples such as inviting peers that may be sitting alone to eat lunch with them.

The efforts extend into their digital lives too.

“When they're on the Internet we have very strict rules at clubs for what sites they can go on," Puttock said.

The program also raises awareness about other hazards of the Internet, such as predators and child luring.

“The Internet can be a wonderful research tool for our kids, but on the other hand, it can be a really dangerous place to be,” she said.

Cyber bullying from peers has its own perils.

“The mental health effects of that, as we’ve seen, some children and youth ultimately suicide because of bullying," she said.

Puttock also pointed to uncivil discourse on social media as an example of bullying in the Internet age.

With Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, she sees the abuse, harassment, and belittlement of people in place of civil debate as an extension of bullying.

And youth model their behaviour on the adults in their life, Puttock said.

“When they see adults bullying each other and being racist and discriminatory, it's what they're learning, So we have to focus on it constantly at the club," she said. “We talked a lot about how the level of respect we expect online is the same as when we're in person.”

She recalled stories of people she thought she knew in real life engaging in poor behaviour emboldened by the anonymity of social media.

“It's so easy to sit behind a keyboard and, and bully people and attack them personally,” Puttock said. “And that's all bullying, whether we're kids or adults.

“We need to be aware of (bullying) everywhere; schools, clubs, out on the streets, and now in this world very much virtually.”

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