Fighting Bullying with Babies by David Bornstein

The article portrays the significance of harassing, an issue that has been getting expanding scope in the press. Likewise, the answer of one constitution, Roots of Empathy, whose stage is making individuals kinder, as well as doing it deliberately in any event with school children. Bornstein weaves through the compelling story report from pioneers in the system about how rapidly and significantly children’s whole disposition can shift, just by watching a baby. It appears as though it is not just conceivable to rearrange individual’s consideration, it’s conceivable to do it methodically at scale – in any event with school children. The baby is by all accounts like a heart-softening attracter. Nobody completely comprehends why. Children learn procedures for consoling a child. The program was “sparked by the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a gay college student who was a victim of cyber-bullying, and by a widely circulated New York Times article that focused on “mean girl” bullying in kindergarten.”(BORNSTEIN)

The strategies seem to be quite effective in reducing the amount of bullying across children ages 5-8. What these two articles have in common is the bullying factor. Bullying is harmful whether it happens once or multiple times, there are consequences. The Department of Education’s “guidance letter” references help him frame the problem by it’s focusing on the punishment of the problem and not prevention. Bornstein describes preventing the problem in early age before it gets out of hand. It is important that he clarify his meaning because bullying does not only mean physically, mental bullying is just as bad if not worse. It seems the program is feasible because Bornstein stated, “What I find most fascinating is how the baby actually changes the children’s behavior. Teachers have confirmed my impressions: tough children smile, disruptive children’ focus, shy children open up.” Bornstein detailed the program as “Roots arranges monthly class visits by a mother and her baby.

Each month, for nine months, a trained instructor guides a classroom using a standard curriculum that involves three 40-minute visits – a pre-visit, a baby visit, and a post-visit. During the baby visits, the children sit around the baby and mother on a green blanket and they try to understand the baby’s feelings. The instructor helps by labeling them.” I believe that information will convince readers that the program will work because most parents want to prevent their children from being bullied. I also believe that it would be cost effective because I’m sure there will always be a willing mother that would volunteer to help the program to prevent bullying. From what I understand, Bornstein does not seem to believe the “punishment” route to deter bullying is effective enough. From the reading, I believe that he feels that preventing the bullying from the start is the better alternative. If I am understanding what I read, it does seem that he has looked at alternative solutions and he believes that using the babies is the better choice.