National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week is Oct. 21 through 27. In preparation for that week, the Pacer Center sent information to news agencies Monday about how to increase the awareness of bullying so people can prevent it.

But it doesn&8217;t need to be National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week to prevent bullying. Any middle-schooler will agree with that.

The Pacer Center has a formed a Kids Against Bullying campaign. Its Web site is www.pacerkidsagainstbullying.org.

It has games, contests, votes and amusing videos. Most of all, it offers advice.

If you are a kid being bullied, here are some ideas from the campaign:

– &8220;Ignore the bully. Bullies want to upset you. If you ignore them, they don&8217;t get what they want. And that&8217;s good for you!&8221;

– &8220;Stick with others. Kids who bully hate a crowd. If you hang out with a friend or an adult, bullies are less likely to do anything to you.&8221;

– &8220;Smile &8212; or at least don&8217;t look upset. Bullies feel powerful when they upset you. If you look cool as a cucumber, the bully has no power.&8221;

Many bullies don&8217;t realize their behavior. They do it because they feel bad about themselves and feel powerful when they control others. If you point the finger at someone else, no one looks at you.

If you are a bully, here are some ideas from the campaign to help you stop:

– &8220;Talk with your mom and dad.&8221;

– &8220;Learn new ways to handle your feelings.&8221;

– &8220;Think up different ways you could act in a situation.&8221;

School violence is unfortunate and often starts because of bullying. In other cases, bullying leads to absenteeism and poor performance. The more everyone can prevent bullying the better our children will do in schools.