Childhood is supposed to be a time of beauty and wonder. A time where each of us is allowed to choose to be what we want to be, do what we want to do. But often, very often, we are teased, taunted, tormented to fit into norms that are made by a few people.
Bullying is the use of force, coercion, or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behaviour is often repeated and habitual.
According to Robert W. Fuller, “bullying ranges from one-on-one, individual bullying through to group bullying, called mobbing, in which the bully may have one or more “lieutenants” who are willing to assist the primary bully in their bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as “peer abuse”.
Children who are bullied may have negative physical, social, emotional, academic, and mental health issues.
They are highly likely to experience:
- Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues often persist into adulthood leading to a variety of emotional and mental issues.
- Health and physical well being related issues
- Decreased academic achievement, decreased interest in extracurricular activities
- A very small number of bullied children might retaliate through extremely violent measures
There are various types of bullying; some are obvious to spot while others can be more subtle. The different types of bullying are:
Physical bullying – this includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property. Physical bullying causes both short term and long term damage.
Verbal bullying – this includes name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal abuse. While verbal bullying can start off harmless, it can escalate to levels where it starts affecting the victim’s mental, physical and emotional well being.
Social bullying – this kind of bullying is often harder to recognise and can be carried out behind the bullied person’s back. It is designed to harm someone’s social reputation and / or cause humiliation via lying, spreading rumours, mimicking, playing nasty pranks, encouraging others to socially exclude someone, wilfully damage reputations etc.
Cyber bullying – this is defined as intentional and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, phones, and other electronic devices. It can be overt or covert using a digital platform/ technologies to tarnish, stalk, take-over, intimidate a victim.
Some topics covered in the Insightful Parents’ module on Handling Bullying are:
- How to identify bullying
- Effects of bullying
- How to stand up to a bully
- Resources for handling cyber bullying
