Anti-Bullying Program Uses Music for Healing

"Operation Respect" Supplies Free Teacher Resources to Stop Bullying

Don't Laugh at Me

Operation Respect began in 2000 when Yarrow's daughter, singer/songwriter Bethany Yarrow, introduced him to the song “Don't Laugh at Me” at the Kerrville Folk Festival. The song, by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin, gave a voice to those who were bullied for being fat, poor, disabled or otherwise different.

Yarrow, who knew that songs like “If I Had a Hammer” had become anthems of civil movements, felt “Don't Laugh at Me” could become an anthem for a bullying solutions program. Together with Linda Lantieri, Founding Director of the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) of Educators for Social Responsibility, he helped adapt the song into Don't Laugh at Me (DLAM), a character education program with curriculums for grades 2-5, 6-8, as well as after-school programs and summer camps.

By combining conflict resolution and peacemaking programs created by organizations such as Educators for Social Responsibility with music videos and CDs provided by Yarrow and other artists, the DLAM program offers several online educational resources for teachers interested in showing others how to stop bullying constructively and nonviolently.

Its well known that kids respond well to music, an effective and powerful educational tool

Free Teacher Resources Use Music for Healing “Singing is therapeutic. It builds community,” says Yarrow, who encourages groups to begin and end DLAM activities by singing with the curriculum's folk songs, which can be downloaded for free from the Operation Respect website, to create a sense of community. “Every time people sing together, the walls come down [and] they form community… After people feel that kind of closeness, they're less afraid to become vulnerable to one another because they trust each other. So community leads to trust, trust leads to the capacity to be vulnerable, the capacity to be vulnerable allows a different degree of spiritual strength and dissolution of alienation. And that is what you call peace building. "Teachers and students get to actively engage in this peace building through DLAM activities. Many activities use music as part of the lesson – including one where kids reflect on the “Don't Laugh at Me” song and discuss times in their lives when they or other people they know were bullied or excluded, and what they wanted to do about it. Other activities let kids brainstorm places they can go when they are too upset to focus – letting them take an active role in creating a therapeutic environment for themselves. Eventually, kids and educators work together to write a “Constitution of Caring” that makes them commit to positive interactions – and understand how to react when someone acts negatively toward them or others.

Providing Social and Emotional Education

“We need to change the educational system for kids and address their social and emotional growth with the importance we ascribe to academic growth,” states Yarrow, who notes educators using the program should have a background in social and emotional learning.

Yarrow further notes that this social and emotional education must extend to the home where parents can model positive behaviors. To that end, Operation Respect encourages parents to partner with the program not only by talking with their kids about bullying but also ensuring the schools have consistent and fairly enforced discipline policies.

More Resources for Helping Schools Learn How to Stop Bullying

According to the Operation Respect website, since 2000, over 150,000 copies of the DLAM program have been distributed to schools in the U.S., Israel, South Africa, and other countries. For school counselors, who left comments on the website, the program has helped open up dialogues not only with bullied children but with bullies themselves, leading to better communication in schools.

Still, Yarrow is quick to point out that while Don't Laugh at Me is an important step in learning about preventing bullying, it is still only a first step.

“This program is not a silver bullet,” he states. “It's just one tool to doing this kind of work. And once you do this kind of work, there are many kinds of parallel work that you can do.”

"Operation Respect"

A nonprofit organization, Operation Respect has been offering educators free anti-bullying teaching resources for years. Educators can download music, videos, and Don't Laugh at Me curriculums from the Operation Respect website, or request that materials be sent to them free of charge (although bulk deliveries do have a nominal fee). Additional resources (including DLAM teaching workshops and school assembly programs which require a fee) can also be found on the website.

Read about Peter Yarrow's thoughts on U.S. wars and other conflicts at Peter Yarrow Talks About Social Responsibilities.

In addition to the Don't Laugh at Me curriculum, Peter Yarrow has adapted many of his songs, including the beloved "Puff the Magic Dragon" song, into storytelling books for kids. Read about his reasons for writing these books at Peter Yarrow Talks About His Books for Kids.

Find additional activities to teach children empathy at Activity Lets Kids Understand Learning Disorders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Listen to the song: Don't Laugh at Me