Bullying is far more common than you would think, bullying in the school environment is an everyday occurrence and can be nationwide, but the degree of intensity tends to be minor in the infant school setting and increases intensity as the children grow older, becoming quite severe in the high school setting.
Most school children will come face to face with a bully at one point in their school life. A bully has no specific age, gender or even a fitting stereotype at all. A bully could even be the least expected child that you would associate in being a bully. Be vigilant when trying to identify the school bully as bullying at school is becoming increasingly more common.
How Child Bullying Happens
- Name calling is very common way to bully at school
- Writing unkind things about children
- Saying nasty things to children or about them to another child
- Purposely ignoring children
- Leaving a child out of games etc
- Threatening and terrorising children
- Making a child feel uncomfortable or scared
- Taking a childs possessions away
- Damaging childrens belongings
- Hitting or causing harm to a child is a more severe way to bully
- Nipping and pinching children
- Intimidating a child
- Making children do things that they feel uncomfortable doing
Any child is capable of being a bully, especially within the school environment where there are so many targets. A bully is normally someone who is not well liked by the other children, usually they are befriended out of fear by weaker children. If a bully is not confronted then a bully will only grow stronger and more powerful on a daily basis.
Bullies cannot deal with anyone who can stand up to them, hence the reason why they only bully certain children who may be small, different, lonely or even just frightened of them.
Are You Being Bullied?
- Tell a grown up immediately about bullying
- Write down where the bullying happens
- Write down who does the bullying
- Write down when the bullying happens
- Draw a picture if writing about bullies is difficult
- Say “NO” to any unwanted bullying behaviour
Remember that you have the right not to be bullied! You must never accept the blame for being bullied as it is NOT your fault. Bullies must be dealt with as soon as possible before the situation escalates and gets out of your control.