Membangun Karakter Empati Dan Kepedulian Sosial Anak Melalui Kegiatan Storytelling Anti Bullying

Abstract

Bullying in school settings remains a serious problem in Indonesia, with widespread psychological impacts such as anxiety, low self-esteem, and difficulty with social adaptation among children. One of the root causes of bullying is children's low capacity for empathy and social concern. This community service activity aimed to build children's empathy and social awareness through an anti-bullying storytelling activity based on real experiences (peer storytelling). The activity was carried out on August 12, 2026, in a sixth-grade classroom at SDN 2 Karangwaluh, involving 17 fifth- and sixth-grade students, using the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach through the 5-D cycle (Discovery, Dream, Design, Define, Destiny). The activity was structured into five interconnected stages: material presentation, question-and-answer discussion, affirmation, storytelling by 8 children who had experienced or engaged in bullying, and writing messages and impressions on a tree-shaped banner. The results show that this staged approach effectively moved children's understanding beyond the cognitive dimension, achieving affective reinforcement through the affirmation stage, and ultimately fostering behavioral commitment through reflection and expressive writing. The peer storytelling session served as the highlight of the activity, proven to cultivate children's empathy through imagination, self-reflection, and perspective-taking, with added impact stemming from the fact that the stories were shared directly by peers who had lived them. This activity confirms that storytelling grounded in real experience can serve as an effective strategy for fostering a collective and sustainable anti-bullying culture in elementary school environments.