It is worth going back to elementary school once in awhile to glean what children are being taught these days.
That happened to us on Pink Shirt Day when we visited Cataline Elementary School where the Williams Lake RCMP and police dog Grimm were giving an anti-bullying presentation to the entire school.
As Const. Adam Hildebrandt talked about the subject briefly, he reminded the students about WITS — an acronym used to help children stand up to bullying.
WITS stands for “Walk Away, Ignore, Talk it Out, and Seek Help.”
Bullies can be physical, bullies can use their words to hurt people, and there are cyberbullies on the computer, Hildebrandt said, adding police often deal with adults who are bullies that never learned not to be bullies when they were children.
A bully wants to be a bully because he wants power, but it’s not cool, Hildebrandt said, and told the children that teachers and police officers want to help students.
Dog handler Cpl. Bentley Johannson said she, Grimm and Insp. Jeff Pelley, Staff Sgt. Del Byron, Const. Kevin Wiebe and Const. Matt Gould, who is from the Alexis Creek detachment, were visiting some of the schools in the lakecity to let students know one of the reasons they got into policing was because they don’t like bullies.
“We want to be people who stand up to bullies,” Johannson said.
She said anti-bullying day is Grimm’s favourite day because he gets to wear a big bright pink shirt and show everyone how he feels about bullies — and also use Insp. Pelley’s arm as a chew toy, something other officers just cannot get away with.
Whether it is Pink Shirt Day or not, everyday should be anti-bullying day, she suggested.
Hard not to agree.
Read more: Seniors and students unite against bullying
