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A chicken's way to stop bullying
(by Andrea Cordle, Southwest Editor - October 14, 2010)
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| Messenger photo by Andrea Cordle |
| Calvin Rich (left) and Aiden McClure gather around children's advocate and author Rick Rieser and his chicken, Sampson. Rieser uses his chickens to teach students to accept one another. |
Percy was born different. He was a different color and size from his peers. Because of this difference, Percy was isolated. He was bullied.
Percy is a chicken and the main character in the book "Percy, The Perfectly Imperfect Chicken" by Orient resident and children's advocate Rick Rieser.
Rieser and the Ohio Department of Education started an anti-bullying program, The Percy Project, for schools across Ohio. The project was launched on Oct. 11 at Darbydale Elementary School, where Rieser attended grade school in the 1960s.
The Percy Project centers on the children's book about chickens. In the story, Percy lived on a farm surrounded by "normal" white-feathered chickens. Percy was colorful. He had brown, orange and red feathers. He also had larger wings. He was picked on by the other chickens because he was different.
Rieser told the students at Darbydale, "Perfect doesn't exist. I want you to be able to look at yourself and say 'I'm okay.'"
The chickens in the book end up accepting and celebrating the differences between them.
Rieser said the main message he wants to get out to school children is to "respect and appreciate yourself, respect others and do not pick on others."
The Percy Project is a demonstration project for elementary schools around the state. It teaches children pro-social skills at an early age. It also teaches students to find positive solutions through service learning.
According to Rieser, pro-social skill building is one of the most effective tools to help students make decisions that result in a positive self-image. He said children with a positive self-image are more resilient, healthy and successful. By building this skill, young children learn their value. It also teaches them to recognize the value in others.
Rieser said in the past 30 years, he has seen a dramatic decrease in pro-social skills children in the United States possess. He believes this is due to decreased family stability and the absence of a positive adult influence. The negative social indicators can increase rates of suicide, bullying and substance abuse.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, half of all school-aged children are bullied at some time in their school experience and at least 10 percent are bullied on a regular basis.
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) defines bullying as any intentional written, verbal, graphic or physical act that a student or group of students exhibits toward another student that causes mental or physical harm to the student and/or creates an intimidating, threatening education environment.
ODE states as students grow older, bullying behavior can become complicated as sexual harassment, hate-motivated bullying, and aggressive or humiliating hazing can come into play.
In 2007, ODE required all school districts in the state of Ohio to adopt policies prohibiting harassment, intimidation or bullying.
By law, building principals are to investigate any incident of bullying reported, document the incident and notify the parents or guardians of all students involved. Beverlee Powers, principal at Darbydale Elementary, said they address bullying immediately.
The students and staff at Darbydale will implement aspects of The Percy Project throughout the school year. Powers said they will reward individual students and/or classrooms who demonstrate the positive behaviors addressed in the project. Rieser also plans to follow-up with Darbydale students to track their progress.
"We are going to learn how to not pick at others," said Rieser.
Rieser has over 25 years experience as a nationally recognized children's program creator, writer, lawyer and family advocate. He graduated from Capital Law School and has a master's degree in family science from The Ohio State University. He lives with his 8-year-old daughter Gracie and numerous chickens, including Percy.
For more information on The Percy Project or on "Percy, The Perfectly Imperfect Chicken," visit percylearningfarms.com.
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