OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Author Julia Cook lives in Fremont, but her work has taken her all over the world.
She has written nearly 100 books, which are available in nine languages, and used today in more than 3/4 of schools in the nation. She wrote her first book in 2005. At the time, Julia was an elementary school counselor.
"I was tired of putting out fires and I thought if I read a story, they'd have the tools they needed, but I couldn't find one, so I wrote one, and that's how it started," she said.
Of all her books, 12 tackle bullying. October 13, National Stop Bullying Day, is meant to help us all learn about bullying and understand how to prevent it.
Julia explains that 10% of kids are bullies, while 20% are targets and the remaining 70% are bystanders.
She has four recommendations for parents.
- Teach empathy
- Provide a judgment-free lifeline
- Empower bystanders
Julia's best tip to combat bullying? Sleep.
"The number one thing that happens when you lose sleep: you start being more irritable, " she said. "The second thing that happens is you start getting anxious and you start worrying about things. What are people going to think about me? And anxiety levels go up. The third thing that happens when you're sleep-deprived is you become depressed. I'm not going to do any good anyway. Why-even-try-attitude. So, lack of sleep when you have a kid with bullying tendencies anyway just increases that."
For a complete list of titles and topics, visit: juliacookonline.com
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