Red Cap Program Teaches Children Skills to Prevent Bullying
Pink Shirt Day, celebrated on the last Wednesday of every February in Canada, promotes kindness and stands against bullying.
Across the country, The Salvation Army runs Red Cap, a program for children between the ages of eight and 12 that provides participants with tools to understand and manage their emotions, helping prevent bullying.
At The Salvation Army in Lloydminster, Alta., Red Cap is designed to meet the needs of the community through creative activities, strong parental involvement and dedicated volunteers.
“We teach how to recognize a bully and maybe why they are being bullied.”
“Parents who have given us feedback are absolutely amazed at the difference in their child and their ability to stop, calm down and think,” Tiffany Frank, program coordinator, shares. “Participants become less reactionary and more intentional with their behaviours.”
The program in Lloydminster runs after school, for eight weeks during the winter. Staff found that this time of year better aligns with children’s attention spans and schedules. Classes are kept small, usually capped at six participants, allowing for one-on-one support.
Facilitators teach strategies to help children regulate and cope with their emotions. These skills not only improve their anger management but also help develop healthier relationships with family members and friends.
Although Red Cap’s essence is consistent across The Salvation Army, each location has unique activities. In Lloydminster, a special guest named “Professor Grouch”, a character portrayed as a scientist, visits the group. She is looking for the cure to anger and through hands-on experiments, children see how emotions can accumulate and intensify.
“Each week, the “professor” does different experiments with things such as food colouring, baking soda and vinegar to show the effects of anger. Different food colouring represents different emotions that cause anger,” Tiffany adds.
Volunteers are also a crucial part of the program. Tiffany invited members of a seniors’ coffee group, also run by the Army, to join the Red Cap team. So far, this move has paid off.
“A lot of them are grandmothers. We are excited to have them because they have an effect on the kids that other adults don’t always necessarily have. They are a calming influence,” Tiffany says.
While parents are not present during sessions, they are still involved in the teachings.
“The program helps parents because they learn as well. We send them weekly emails telling them exactly what their children learned that week, what they’re working on, and what they can do at home to reinforce the teachings,” Tiffany adds.
“We teach them about their emotions, so they don’t bully other people.”
At the end of each Red Cap cycle, a celebration featuring pizza and fun activities takes place to honour the children’s graduation from the program and their progress.
Many participants come from families already connected to The Salvation Army, while local schools and social services agencies refer others. Over time, the program has built a good reputation and strong partnerships within Lloydminster.
“Our main focus is anger management, but it’s also anti-bullying. We teach how to recognize a bully and maybe why they are being bullied. We teach them about their emotions, so they don’t bully other people. So, it’s not just anger management, it’s anti-bullying, and it’s a leadership class,” Tiffany concludes.
By Juan Romero
