I'm here to tell you about bullying, since it's becoming more and more common..
Bullying happens when an individual or group starts taking advantage of the power they have to exclude or hurt someone else. Bullying can be physical (like hitting, kicking, taking belongings), verbal (name calling, insults), or indirect (spreading rumors, excluding people from groups, or making them do things they don't want to do).
It usually has three common features:
- it is deliberate, hurtful behaviour
- it is repeated
- it is hard for those being bullied to defend themselves
A lot of bullying occurs in schools, and schools have an obligation (legal requirement) to provide a safe physical and emotional environment for ALL of their students. If you are being bullied at school, some of the things you can do are:
- Tell someone - it's the most important step to stop bullying. Make sure this person is someone you can trust, like a teacher, principal, or school counselor.
- Try ignoring the bully, telling them to stop, and walking away when they approach you.
- Remember that you are not the problem, the bully is. Wherever you are you have a right to feel safe and secure.
- If you're being bullied, try and stay in safe areas of the school at lunch and break times. Bullies don't like witnesses.
Why do people bully?
Each bully's reasoning may be different. They may see it as a way of being popular, to show off, or to make themselves feel more powerful. They might want people to be afraid of them, or have been the victim of bullying and want to feel better. They might be having problems at home, and they're taking their feelings out on you. They may not even realise that what they're doing is wrong, and how it makes their victims feel.
Who is a bully?
Every person is different, but bullies sometimes possess certain characteristics. Bullies can be people who:
- are aggressive
- resort to violence
- feel bad about their looks
- need to get the approval of others
- need to be controlling and dominant
What are the effects of bullying?
People who have been bullied may:
- feel lonely, unhappy, and afraid
- lose confidence
- really don't want to go to school
- start becoming isolated
- start to think they're something wrong with them.
For more information on bullying check this site out:
Hope I helped, this is Tech signing out.
