Over the years, bullying has gotten worse and further evolved. Twenty years ago, bullying usually only happened on the school playground, on the school bus, or in the neighborhood park. Since technology has given us the Internet, social media, and smartphones, bullying has become much more serious and much more dangerous.
Studies have shown that more than 3.2 million students are victims of traditional bullying or cyberbullying each year. When this bullying happens, one in four teachers don’t even see it. Of those who do see what is going on, they will only intervene 4% of the time. These statistics are terrifying. It is important to understand the anti-bullying facts to change these statistics.
When a child or teen is bullied, it can have a big effect on their life. Most children are embarrassed and won’t want to tell anyone. It is important for parents and educators to know the warning signs that a child is being bullied.
- become withdrawn: When a child is being bullied, they often become withdrawn. If you notice that your child is no longer doing the things that he normally enjoyed, especially if it is a group activity, it is likely that he is being bullied and is afraid to do these activities.
- Finding reasons to miss school: When a child or teen is being bullied, they are likely to find excuses to miss school. They may pretend they are too sick to go or, in severe cases, will refuse to go without explaining why. It is also not common for a child who is being bullied to skip school without the parent’s knowledge.
- Accidents: When younger children are being bullied, particularly in kindergarten and first grade, they may back off and wet their pants. This is an important warning sign for parents and education and should not be ignored.
- Social networks: If your child or teen spent a large portion of their time on various social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, and suddenly stops communicating and posting on these sites, it is likely that they are being cyberbullied by another user or a group of users. site (s.
- Physical injuries: If your child comes home with cuts, scrapes, and bruises often, and doesn’t want to tell you how the injury happened, or makes lame excuses about how it happened, chances are he or she is being bullied.
- Possessions mysteriously disappear: If your child comes home and claims that they lost their jacket, their new sneakers, and even school supplies, there is a chance that they are being bullied. Also, if your child comes home hungry every day, claiming that he lost his lunch money, there is a good chance that a bully is stealing his lunch money.
- Refusal to ride the bus: If your child suddenly refuses to ride the school bus, when he or she normally doesn’t have a problem, it’s likely that he or she is being bullied on the bus ride to school.
- Change of sleepwear: If your child has frequent nightmares or has trouble sleeping, these are signs that they might be being bullied.
- Grades start to drop: If your child is normally a good student and suddenly notices a significant drop in his grades, that’s a good sign he’s being bullied.
- Talk about suicide: If your child expresses feelings of helplessness or talks about suicide, it is likely that he or she is being bullied. These signs should be taken very seriously. There have been many cases where a child is being bullied or cyberbullied and tries to commit suicide. It is important to intervene immediately in these severe cases.
Years ago, parents and education had a “kids will stay kids” attitude when it came to bullying. This is a very irresponsible reaction to bullying. It is important for the mental and physical well-being of the child that something is done as soon as bullying is suspected or confirmed.
- Contact the school or parents: If you are a teacher who suspects bullying, you should contact the student’s parents immediately. You should also report the problem to your manager. If you are a parent who suspects your child is being bullied, you should contact the school immediately so the problem can be handled.
- Contact the police: If the bullying is serious enough to have adverse effects on your child’s mental or physical health, you should contact the police. It is never a good idea to contact the parents of the child you are bullying. You can’t be sure how the parents will react and it can make the problem worse. It is best to leave the problem in the hands of the police for your safety and the safety of your child.
- make your child talk: If you suspect your child is being bullied, it is important for your child to open up and tell you what is going on. If you can’t get your child to talk, you can turn to a sibling or another family member the child trusts to try to get him to open up.
- Get professional help: If you’re having trouble getting your child to open up, and family and friends have also failed, taking your child to see a therapist is a good idea. A therapist who specializes in bullying has an excellent chance of reaching her child. If your child has opened up about what’s going on, it’s still a good idea to see a therapist. A professional can help them see that the bullying is not her fault and will have tools to help your child work through the trauma of bullying.
- Sign in on your computer/tablet/smartphone: If you suspect your child is being bullied, it’s a good idea to check their social networking sites. Chances are, if they are being bullied or cyberbullied, there will be evidence on their social media pages. If you find that bullying is taking place, the information you obtained may be useful to the school or the police if they are forced to intervene.
How to prevent bullying
As a parent, there is not much you can do to prevent your child from being bullied. You can’t keep your child locked up to keep him safe. To prevent bullying, it’s up to parents, educators, and even the media as a group. To prevent your child from being bullied, a group effort is needed.
- Awareness: It is important that children, adolescents and parents are aware that bullying exists. Recently, the media has been doing its part in raising awareness with various campaigns against bullying.
- Have policies in place: It is important that schools have zero tolerance anti-bullying policies. The school must ensure that students understand what bullying is, what it does to a person, and what the consequences are for bullying another student.
- School Assemblies: Many schools these days are having anti-bullying assemblies. Students attend these assemblies during school and listen to speeches. Many schools have the police come in and explain the legal consequences of bullying. Schools can also bring in therapists to discuss the emotional issues that bullying can cause and also to offer support to students experiencing bullying after the assembly is over. Many schools will bring in students who have been or were bullied so they can tell their story and how bullying affected their lives. Giving students the opportunity to have all the outlets available at once can be very helpful.
- proactive parenting: Talking to your children often about being bullied or being a bully is important. A child’s morality begins at home. When parents start talking to their children at an early age about bullying and how it is not tolerated, the child is less likely to be a bully and may feel comfortable opening up if bullied.
- Monitor Internet usage: Cyberbullying is very common these days. By monitoring their children’s Internet use, parents can prevent their children from bullying others or recognize that their child is the one being bullied. They can then take the necessary steps to put an end to it.
Bullying and cyberbullying is a very big problem in today’s world. It is up to children, parents, educators, health professionals and the media to work together so that no child suffers the physical and mental effects of bullying. The old saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child.” In the case of bullying and cyberbullying, this saying makes more sense than ever
