Do you want to do well in school? Well, you're not alone, being successful is a personal wish for all of us in everything that we do. We all want to excel, get recognized and achieve our goals.

However, doing your best in school requires hard work, dedication and good study skills. School success includes coming to school every day and on time, being prepared with all your supplies, getting plenty of rest, exercising, eating healthy, studying often, completing all classwork & homework, doing well on test, getting along with others, having a positive attitude and always trying your very best.

 

Bullying is repeated behavior such as teasing, hitting, threatening, gossiping, rumors, humiliation, intimidation, excluding from activties, etc. that is meant to intentionally hurt someone. Anyone can be a bully and bullies target anyone they perceive are weaker than they are. Bullies bully because they are angry, want power, are victims of bullying or abuse themselves and some think that it's a way to get friends.

Bullying behavior is abusive and hurtful to the victim. Being bullied can make you feel scared, sad, angry, embarrassed, humiliated, helpless and can eventually lead to feeling depressed. It can also be hurtful to the bully who no one will truly like but will be too scared to say so. People may pretend to be friends with a bully only because they're scared to become a target of the bully and/or they want to feel powerful as well.

When you watch bullying happen, you are a bystander. A bystander, although often feel helpless have a lot of power in helping to end bullying. As a bystander, you could help by standing up for your friend and asking the bully to stop.Make it clear that you don't agree and/or support the behavior. If you feel it's too dangerous to say anything and you're afraid of getting hurt then you should definitely get help from a trusted adult.

Whatever you choose, be sure not to join in by laughing or doing anything that gives the bully and other bystanders the impression that this behavior is okay. The more people laugh and join in the more the bully will feel empowered and encouraged to continue their behavior. Let the bully and others know that "bullying is not cool." Who knows, if you allow the bully to continue bullying you can eventually become their target.

Being a victim of bullying is very difficult and scary. Being silent about being bullied will not make it stop and can even lead to it becoming more dangerous. You don't want to fight back because fighting won't solve anything. Fighting will only lead to you getting in trouble and can even put you in a more dangerous situation. There are many ways to stand up to bullying, like:

REMEMBER, you can make a difference in our school, community & world. You can help by checking your own behavior to be sure you're not bullying others, having self confidence & not allowing yourself to be bullied and by helping when you see a bullying problem. Have the courage to do what's right.

 

Staying healthy is important if you want to be successful in school and life. Your health includes good nutrition, exersice, rest, taking care of your feelings and respecting your mind & body. When you focus on your health, you ensure that your body and mind have the energy to do things that you want to do like get good grades, play sports, learn music, participate in clubs and/or play with your friends.

Some tips for staying healthy include:

• Exercising daily by warming up muscles, stretching, participating in sports and trying a variety of activities like running, walking, riding a bike, & swimming.
• Exercising your mind by playing with puzzles & thinking games, limiting TV & computer/video games, learning new things, reading & asking questions.
• Get plenty of rest by making sure that you take naps when needed, relax before bed, go to bed on time and get the recommended hours of sleep for your age (8-12 hours).
• Eat a balanced diet that includes a variety of colorful foods, snacks between meals and at least 3 complete meals per day. Be sure to eat slowly so that your body has time to feel full and take it easy on the sweets, sodas and fatty foods.
• Take care of your feelings by sharing how you feel with your friend and/or trusted adult, asking for help when you feel stressed, valuing your self & others and expressing yourself in creative & positive ways like drawing, journaling, reading, exercise, music or meditation.

Friendships are valuable to us all. Friends have a lot of things to offer like conversation, help, support and common interests. Making and keeping friends however takes a lot of work. For some of us it comes quite naturally but for others it's a great challenge. A challenge that can be overcome with the right attitude, patience and willingness to try.

Friendships will change for you throughout your life. The friends you had when you were a baby are probably not all the same ones you have today. By the time you get to high school your circle of friends might look quite different than it does today. The expectations, activities and interest that you share with your friends will also change as you get older. It's important to learn how to manage all these changes and continue to benefit from the awesome things that friends have to offer.

A good friendship is one that is based on acceptance, respect, kindness and love. It's very important that your friends treat you kind and that you do the same in return. If you have a friend that is always hurting you whether it be physically and/or emotionally then you should reconsider if they're truly your friend. Have a talk with them, tell them how you feel and how you want to be treated. If they can't understand or won't change, then it's best to go your separate ways because no one deserves to be treated bad especially by someone you consider a friend. If you're not sure how to handle a situation, seek help from another friend, a family member, a teacher or counselor.

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

We all have feelings and they're a natural part of life. Some feelings are pleasant like happy, excited, & joyful. Some feelings are not so pleasant like sad, scared & anger. Of all our feelings, anger is the one that most of us struggle with. We usually don't want to feel anger since we don't now how to handle it. Angry feelings aren't bad and they're not something to fear and avoid. In fact, when we learn to manage our anger in positive ways and channel that energy towards something good, we may find that anger can help us be productive.

When you deal with anger in effective ways like journaling, communicating with others, exercising, or reading to mention a few, then you benefit in other ways like learning, keeping healthy, enjoying your friendships and sometimes even getting motivated to change the world. See there are many people who write books, become artist, volunteer for special causes, go into helping fields like counseling, law & justice because of their personal struggles and experiences with anger.

The key to managing anger is learning all you can about it and finding ways to get it under control. If you don't learn to express your anger in a peaceful way and control your behaviors when you're angry then it can lead to you becoming destructive and hurtful towards yourself and others.

Did you know that anger is a secondary feeling? That means that usually in a situation where you felt angry there was usually another feeling that you felt first. It's just that we don't know how to identify or express those underlying feelings and they tend to make us feel powerless and vulnerable. So, we hide them or mask them with anger instead because it's easier for us to feel anger. For example, if you're being teased by someone, the primary feeling or first thing you feel is usually embarrassed, hurt or humiliated. However, anger seems to be what you express and most often in aggressive and violent ways.

There are experiences and events that can trigger anger. Your anger triggers are different than other peoples because your values, beliefs and attitude about things are different. How anger affects your body, your anger signs, can also be different but may include your face getting red & tense, blood rushing to different parts of your body, blood pressure increasing, eyes tearing, heart pumping fast, sweating, breathing fast, mouth or jaw tightening, fist clenching, stomach aches or headaches. If you learn what your anger triggers and signs are then you will be on your way to diffusing your anger because part of managing anger is learning when it's best for us to remove ourselves from a situation and/or get help.

Here are some steps to controlling your anger:

 

 

Although it seems like it's a long way off, it's never too early to start thinking about your future. Looking ahead helps you to stay focused on your goals and to be successful. It will also motivate you to do your best in school because what you're learning today will build your future.

Perhaps, you already have an idea about what you want to be when you grow up; doctor, astraunaut, teacher, banker, etc. That's GREAT! You can get a head start and learn all that you can about the career you have in mind. That can help you determine and improve on the skills that will lead you towards your dream job. If you're not sure what you want to do, then it's a great time to start exploring different jobs.

Learning all you can about different careers will help you to narrow your choices. It's important to know what is required, how long you will have to go to school, a general idea about the pay, the setting and types of people that you will work with. Getting exposed to different careers helps you to consider possibilities that perhaps you didn't know existed.

What ever you choose just be sure that it's what you really want to do and that it will be the type of work that you can be proud of and happy with. The possibilities are endless!