Story 2019
In 2018 fantastic conditions were created and this will enable us to go even stronger this year. New platforms, new working methods and new knowledge helped us to take further steps towards our vision: a world where no child is exposed to bullying. The entire report can be found here: https://friends.se/arsberattelse2018/.
Bullying in a school corridor, at the break or in the school dining room, hurts children and young people for life. 60,000 children and young people are bullied every year. This corresponds to 1-2 students in each class. Today's society with almost unlimited online communication has unfortunately given us an increasingly complicated dimension to bullying. Mean words can be spread directly to an endless audience. The sender can be anonymous or pretend to be someone who is not. The bullying is no longer tied to time and space.
We all have to take our responsibility to spread knowledge about how we can prevent bullying, support the children and young people who are exposed to bullying and inform about the importance that we all take responsibility for how we act towards each other. At the end, it's all about love and respect!
ISBJÖRN of Sweden is a Swedish clothing brand for baby, children and teenagers who has the mission of dressing tomorrow´s adventurers. The company was started by two mothers in 2005 when they had their first children and could not find functional outerwear on the market for their babies. Clothes that are made for an active lifestyle, that effectively protect from rain, wind and cold, and which are made of high-quality durable materials, selected with care about nature and with a high technical function. Already from the start, the business concept was to offer the best product on the market with a consistently sustainable perspective
In practice, what does it mean to want to dress tomorrow's adventurers? We at ISBJÖRN of Sweden say that children are multi-sporters by nature. Unfortunately, it is easy to destroy children’s joy and curiosity by consistently dressing them in substandard outerwear. Often with the argument that "children grow so fast". If the children keep the joy of staying outside and discover all the great things in the forest, mountains and countryside, then we at ISBJÖRN are convinced that the respect and love for our nature will follow with the children up to adulthood. That love, in return, will spill over to how children act as adults on issues that affect our nature and of course spread theri love and attitude even to the next generation. Again, we talk about love and respect!
The financial support from ISBJÖRN of Sweden will go to Friends' activities in educating schools, preschools and sports associations, as well as driving public opinion to create a change at the community level, in preventive work against bullying and discrimination. Friends is also conducting research in this area.
The statistics show that after a year with a Friends-program, bullying at school decreases.
The collaboration between ISBJÖRN and Friends is long-term and aims to create lasting change. “We are very much looking forward to what we can achieve with Friends” says Maria Frykman Forsberg, CEO of ISBJÖRN of Sweden.
Read more about Friends' work at www.friends.se