Description

Bully Safe is an educational card game that teaches a systems approach to reducing bullying behavior. All children have been involved in bullying incidents, whether as a target, a bully, or a bystander. Players learn that everyone can play an important role in reducing bullying. The target of the bullying will become the victim if he/she cannot stop the bullying attempt. In addition, the bystander who laughs when the bully makes fun of another student is unwittingly rewarding the bully with the status he/she seeks and encouraging more bullying.

Like other behavior, bullying behavior is not random, rather it is motivated by specific goals. Most bullying is motivated by social goals, such as status, popularity, power, having fun, etc. The game emphasizes that all students in the school community have the ability to support bullying or to discourage it. Students learn concrete, non-violent skills to use in bullying situations. In addition to the game's systems approach, it differs from most other approaches to bullying in two important respects. First, it pays attention to the potentially positive role of the bystanders. Second, it gives bullies positive skills to use to achieve their goals without resorting to bullying behavior.

The game box includes rules for both cooperative play and competitive play. In each version players read Situation cards that describe typical middle school bullying behavior. Players then offer advice to the target, the bystanders, or the bully (on how the bully can achieve goals using pro-social skills instead of bullying). Players earn tokens for their sound advice. In order to facilitate learning and help the players give sound advice, the game includes a list of non-violent skills that targets and bystanders can use to reduce and stop bullying. Players also learn when it is appropriate to seek help from a trusted adult.