Thanks to out friends at the Togetherville Blog for this post:

The No Name Calling Week campaign kicks off today!

Since 2004, No Name Calling Week (launched by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network and Simon and Schuster Publishing) has been  providing anti-bullying resources to schools and youth-serving organizations.

A hallmark of the No Name Calling Week campaign is the annual Creative Expression Contest for students in grades K-12. Art is an excellent medium for exploring a topic as personal and painful as bullying. Art is also, ironically, one of the ways kids can be vulnerable to teasing and name-calling. One of our favorite creative tools for kids is Scratch, a website designed by the MIT Media Lab, where kids can “create and share interactive stories, games, music and art.”

Alexander, a Togetherville kiddo, spent an afternoon with his grandma creating his very own game on Scratch. Jessica, Alexander’s mom, spent some time on Scratch after seeing his proud creation, checking out the other creations and comments. She found that a lot of kids write disclaimers underneath their artwork. “I did this really quick, while my mom was at the store. Please don’t make fun of it!” or “Please don’t diss my game, it was my first try!!”

Kids are creators, and now they have a global audience of peers to critique their work. So, the kids have to either beg for their work to not be torn apart, the kids feel the need to bring themselves down before someone else does. As if to say, “I know you’re going to tease me, so I’m beating you to it so it doesn’t hurt as much.”

Even a 20-second stop-action Lego video on YouTube takes hours of work but kids feel the need to downplay their creativity, “My camera was bad so it’s not very good” or “This is my first video about a new worker at the zoo, I know it sucks.” When a kid puts him or herself “out there”, they’re open to potentially hurtful critique. But they create anyway. That’s why we want you to challenge your kids this week – and every week – to comment with care. Show them how to use constructive, not cruel, language when responding to someone else’s creative expression.

For the entire post on the Togetherville Blog, including Lego Video, click here.

For more information about the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, click here