Larry Frates turns his attention & talents to reining in bullying

LACONIA — Art educator and master magician Larry Frates is developing an anti-bullying program which he hopes to bring into local schools and before community organizations in the months ahead.

Frates says that awareness of bullying as a major problem has emerged in recent years and that research shows that as many as half of all students of middle school age have experienced bullying, which in today's highly connected world is made all the more pervasive through cell phones, Twitter and other communication technologies.

''It's very hard for someone who is being bullied to escape from that cycle,'' says Frates, who says that a the child-centered approach he is working on is designed to encourage students in grades K-6 to find ways to deal with bullying when it happens to them and to also stand up for those who are being bullied.

"You Are the Magic, Be a Buddy Not a Bully" is the theme Frates chosen for the project, which he said will follow the same plan used in earlier school assembly projects, The "Say Magic Show" which focused on substance abuse and the "Get It Together Show", which focused on peer pressure.

Frates, who taught in public schools for decades and for the last 39 years has run the Frates Creative Arts Center in Downtown Laconia, says that while teaching in public schools he was ''always concerned about the way I saw kids treating each other. Kids need to be more sensitive and understand the difference between playful teasing and saying and doing things that are hurtful.''

He sees bullying as an extension of the peer pressure problem and being much harder to control than 20 or so years ago because of the use of cellphones, which create incidents that teachers and school administrators are not aware of,

''Kids who are being bullied just won't say anything at the elementary and middle school level. What the program I'm developing is aimed at is showing each child that there's magic in them and that they have the power to change things. I have seen kids rise to the occasion in art or in plays and they need to know they can do that same thing when it comes to bullying,'' says Frates,

He says that showing kids positive support and providing avenues so that they can get help from adults in dealing with difficult peer relationships is an important part of what's needed to help curb bullying.

Frates said that the program will include magic, cartooning, storytelling and caricatures as well as audience participation and will center around a magic trunk which contains hats which impart a certain character to those who wear them and feature characters such as Swami Salami, Foo Ling You, Harry the Hatter, Artie the Artist and the Yankee Doodler.

He said that he is seeking business partners for the program and that money raised from advertising will be used to purchase items such as buttons, posters, coloring books and T-shirts which will be given to children who take part in the assemblies which will take place in schools in and around the Lakes Region.

CAPTION:

Larry Frates appears as Swami Salami, one of the characters which will be part of the ant-bullying program he is developing. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun)