Anti-bullying speaker with a twist

Growing up can be hard. Kids and teens struggle with many issues. Changes are happening to them at a rapid-fire pace. Balancing school, extra-curricular activities, family, and friends, compounded by the changes going on within themselves can often leave them stressed and anxious. Add to all of this, pressures from school mates to fit into a box they may otherwise not fit and one may find their otherwise sweet kid lashing out or failing to cope with everything in a healthy manner.

In today’s world, adults may fail to realize the pressures their kids are under. With the prevalence of social media, kids today are under even more pressure to be just like the internet stars they see daily on sites such as YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok. Because kids are under such immense pressure, they may also lash out at their peers. Bullying today is not what it was when parents were in school.

While bullying does still happen in schools, it has now crossed over to the World Wide Web. This means that more people are seeing the hurtful things kids post about each other. This leaves kids vulnerable to bullying from those they may have never even met. All of this can lead kids to experience things such as depression and anxiety. It can also lead to suicide.

Indeed, kids and teens today spend an astounding average of 8.3 hours in front of a screen which is roughly 2.3 days a week of screen time. The average teen is on nine social media platforms. This blue screen time (which refers to the blue light waves that are emitted from things such as smartphones and modern televisions) can cause disruption to one’s sleep and can even cause depression. Even more frightening is the fact that teen self-harm and suicide is at an all-time high.

While many parents and schools are doing their part to eliminate bullying and mental health issues with speakers who hold assemblies and spend time quoting statistics to kids and teens, one man is taking a different approach.

Keith Deltano is a man on a mission. That mission is to educate kids, teens, and parents on bullying in school, both physical and verbal, cyberbullying, girl phenomenon, racism, and with older teens, mental health such as cutting, thoughts, depression, the importance of help for these issues. does all of this in a unique way, with comedy.

His style of schools of these important issues, coupled the fact that he a curriculum for schools to use throughout the year has been shown to lower incidences of these issues in and out of schools.

Deltano captures students’ attention with humor and connects with them by telling stories of his own struggles with mental illness and learning disorders.

In fact, Deltano says that he receives messages from students, parents, and teachers following his assemblies thanking him.

Those students who message him oftentimes say that he gave them the courage to stand up to their bully or seek help.

Parents and teachers often praise him for giving them tools that help them to understand the issues that face today’s youth.

On Monday, Feb. 24, Deltano spoke to students at all three of Linden’s schools and followed up with an assembly the same evening for parents. For parents, he reminded them that behavior starts at home.

If kids and teens see their parents being bullies, such as making racist comments, negative comments about another’s lifestyle choices or even gossiping, this tells kids and teens that this behavior is acceptable. It is also important to note that parents should encourage their kids to find their own thing, even if it isn’t the parent’s thing.

Deltano, who played football growing up and also served in the military, helped his son discover a love of ballet. Parents are also encouraged to remind their children that happiness does not come from peer approval. Deltano, when interviewed, gave Linden schools very high praise, saying that the students were some of the most well-behaved kids he has encountered.

Deltano, who is also an award-winning teacher, encourages parents and educators to visit both of his web sites, dontbullyonline.com and charactervideo.org, for more information.