When we talk of bullying, we need to be right with the facts. We need to understand and look at it from all the perspectives.
What is Bullying by Defination?
Bullying can be defined as; the physical or spoken violence that is recurrent over a period of time and is in distinction to meanness and does not involve equality in power. This can explain why the younger ones always get bullied by the older ones.
Bullying can be physical, verbal and sometimes relational just to name a few. Cyberbullying is part of this vice.
28 % of Young People are Victims of Bullying – Study Shows
Statistics have proven that 28% of young people have been victims of bullying. Boys have been said to be involved in more bullying than girls. The boys prevail in physical and verbal bullying while the girls have relational bullying which involves excluding someone from a peer group or a clique especially through spreading rumors about them. For parents, it is important to note that bullying can occur either daily, weekly or monthly.
How Can I Tell that My Child is Being Bullied?
Effects related to bullying include; teens who bully have shown signs of aggression and are often found committing crimes. Most of them are also violent. Violent partners in marriages might be unknown contenders, right? Same case to those in the society at large but of course without pointing fingers. These teens are also drug and substance abusers probably to harden them.
Victims of bullying, on the other hand, are said to have severe cases of anxiety and are sometimes depressed. This directly deteriorates the child’s performance and social life at length. They also prefer to be loners and are frequently absent in school.
Teachers should thus make follow-ups on truant students. Unfortunately, these things end up affecting their adulthood. They actually continue with their antisocial behavior and most gain little or none financial success.
Extreme Bullying can Trigger Suicidal Thoughts
In extreme cases, children begin to have suicidal thoughts and some turn to activities that cause them pain such as cutting their arms to suppress their emotions.
How Can We Control Bullying in Our Schools?
The first step at controlling bullying in our schools is for parents to report to the school whenever they notice any unusual behavior among their kids.
Encouraging their kids to talk about it makes it much easier. Parents should not panic especially in front of their kids and should, in fact, act calm and be supportive. Reassuring their kids that they are not to blame for them being picked at is also very important to their self-esteem.
Additionally, each school should clearly define bullying to both the students and the staff. For one so as not to mistake teasing for bullying.
Our former CS for education Dr.Matiang’ i made it clear that bullying should not be condoned in any form and school. He classified it under criminal offenses.
Why Do Kids Bully Others?
To our surprise, studies have shown that most kids end up being bullies because of being labeled as the black sheep either at home or in their class.
Most teachers seldom recognize any positive deed by these kids. This is a wake-up call to both parents and teacher.
In addition, the bully and the victim once identified, should be kept separate during the investigation.
Basically, communication is very vital in controlling bullying so as to get to the bottom of the issue.
Very Knowledgeable.