Episode 7. What should you do If someone bullies you

In this episode children take part in a storytelling activity where they create two characters from their community. Chloe is nine and a half. She enjoys cooking and gymnastics and spends time with her friends Mia and Charlotte. She lives with her parents and her younger brother John. The children then introduce Jacob, a twelve year old who enjoys playing football.

Through these characters the group explores real situations children face in their daily lives. The story follows Jacob as he walks home from school and encounters older boys who begin shouting at him and calling him names. The children discuss what he should do. Their advice focuses on staying calm, walking away, ignoring the bullying, and telling a trusted adult.

The conversation continues as the situation happens again the next day. The children reflect on other ways Jacob could protect himself and how important support from adults can be. They also share a clear message for the bullies. Treating others badly pushes people away and harms friendships.

The discussion then turns to safety in the community. The children think about what someone should do if they find something suspicious in the park or face a situation that feels uncomfortable. Their advice stays simple and practical. Stop, walk away, or tell an adult.

This episode forms part of the Listen to Us series. Through storytelling and imagination, children share how they understand safety, friendship, and respect in their community. Their ideas show how children think carefully about how to respond to bullying and how to look out for one another.

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This project is supported through the Daphne-CHILD programme, a European initiative led by Eurochild and Terre des Hommes and funded by the European Union through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme. The programme supports grassroots organisations across nine European countries that work to prevent violence against children, while ensuring that children themselves participate in shaping solutions.

The campaign will culminate in an advocacy seminar on 15 May 2026 in Dublin, bringing together educators, policymakers, youth organisations and child protection professionals to discuss the key messages emerging from the project and explore how children’s perspectives can better inform policy and practice.

For more information, visit https://listentous.ie.

About the Daphne-CHILD programme
The Daphne-CHILD programme (2024–2027) is a European initiative led by Eurochild and Terre des Hommes and funded by the European Union through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme. It supports grassroots organisations across Europe working to prevent violence against children and strengthen child protection systems through meaningful child participation. More: https://daphne.childhub.org.

Thank you for listening and please leave us a review on Apple or Spotify as it will help the children's voices and messages echo out into the world. We are on Instagram @caspr.ie  

Transcript

(0:00) So look, we have two people here, right? (0:03) Pretend they're from your area. (0:05) So what would we call this girl here? (0:08) Chloe. (0:08) And what age do you think she is? (0:10) Nine.(0:11) Chloe is nine and a half. (0:13) What kind of things does Chloe like doing? (0:16) Cooking. (0:17) Cooking and gymnastics.(0:19) And is that realistic? (0:21) Do you think kids around here would like cooking and gymnastics? (0:23) Yeah. (0:24) Yeah? (0:25) Romy would. (0:25) Does she have a best friend? (0:27) Yeah.(0:28) Mia. (0:28) Mia. (0:29) Charlotte.(0:30) Best friends, Charlotte and Mia. (0:32) Does she have a mom and a dad? (0:35) Or is she living with her grandparents? (0:37) A mom and dad. (0:38) A little brother called John.(0:40) And I'm going to ask you, what age is John? (0:42) Maybe five? (0:44) I think eight age. (0:45) Okay, let's go for eight. (0:47) I like that.(0:48) What colour eyes does she have? (0:49) Blue. (0:50) I'm going to get you to do the eyes. (0:51) And then I want you to do her hair colour.(0:56) And when that's happening, we're going to talk about the boy. (1:00) So what age will the boy be? (1:01) How about we do like 12? (1:03) Would that be all right? (1:04) Because they're in sixth class. (1:06) My cousin is 12 and she's in seventh class.(1:10) So 12. (1:11) So what are we going to call him? (1:13) Jacob. (1:14) Do you like that name? (1:15) What does Jacob like to do? (1:18) Football.(1:19) Okay, so where are the kids' parents from, do you think? (1:23) Where is... (1:24) Germany and Canada. (1:26) Germany and Canada, wow. (1:28) So we're going to have a chat about what somebody should do if something happens.(1:33) Is that okay? (1:34) We're going to pretend that Jacob is walking home from school, right? (1:39) So he leaves school. (1:40) He's walking home from school. (1:42) He notices some older boys across the other side of the street.(1:47) And the other older boys start to shout a little bit at him. (1:52) And they start to call him names. (1:55) I'm wondering what your advice to Jacob would be in that situation.(2:01) I say he should just walk away, ignore them. (2:04) And if they keep on following him, I just say to tell Jacob that, (2:11) just tell them to stop bullying them and walk away. (2:14) And if they keep on bullying you, just ignore them.(2:17) And just imagine that you're just in a fluffy... (2:20) You're just flying in a fluffy cloud and you're just ignoring them. (2:24) And tell them to stop bullying him and stop following him. (2:27) And if they did something bad to him, tell an adult.(2:30) So the rest of the story is Jacob does what you said he should do. (2:34) So he takes your advice and he tells an adult. (2:36) He keeps walking.(2:38) He ignores them. (2:38) And then when he gets home, he tells his mum and dad what happened, okay? (2:42) And the mum and dad say, don't worry, just ignore them like Alice suggested. (2:47) And go to school tomorrow and you'll be fine.(2:49) So the next day, guys, Jacob leaves school again. (2:54) And the same boys are there and they start to do the same thing again. (3:00) What would you say to him if he was going through the same thing a second time? (3:06) What could he do? (3:07) I say just, if he keeps on doing that, (3:11) either you run as fast as you can and go on the other street.(3:14) And then when you see a car going, you just run quickly out the street. (3:20) And then after when they have to wait before the car comes, (3:25) you just run quickly before they follow you. (3:27) Okay, that's very good advice.(3:29) What would your advice be to the bullies? (3:32) What would you say to the bullies if you could talk to them about them tormenting Jacob? (3:37) You either stop or you won't. (3:40) Because if you keep on doing that, and then your other friends keep on saying, (3:44) I don't want to do this, it doesn't feel nice. (3:46) And you're the only one who's doing it.(3:48) You won't have any friends because if you treat them like that, (3:51) they won't feel very comfortable you being their friend. (3:54) So then you won't have any more friends left over. (3:57) Stop doing that.(4:00) And if you keep doing that, you'll have no friends. (4:04) And nobody will like you and everybody will hate you. (4:06) Okay, so is there anything else guys you think that (4:10) that kids need to know around here about how to stay safe? (4:13) Is there any time that you see something that might be dangerous around here? (4:17) What about if there was a bag left in the park? (4:20) It was a small bag.(4:22) Chloe was walking past, she saw a bag. (4:25) It looked kind of curious. (4:28) But when she walked past it, she did get a bad feeling.(4:31) And she heard people behind her kind of shouting going, where's the bag? (4:35) What would you tell Chloe to do? (4:37) Tell Chloe to get the bag and find the person to keep on saying that. (4:44) And say, is this your bag? (4:45) And if they say yes, just give them it. (4:48) And then after you can ask them if they want to be a friend.(4:51) If they say yes, maybe you can have a play date (4:54) or like go out in the shop or something. (4:59) That would be really helpful, wouldn't it? (5:00) But what if it was like, there was like older kids (5:04) and they were shouting and they were kind of sounding a bit scary? (5:10) I would say, are you okay? (5:11) And if they said yes, I say, I hope you will be alright when you go home (5:18) and don't lose your bag again because someone might steal it. (5:21) If I see something wrong, I can stop it, walk away or tell an adult.