What is bullying?
Bullying is when someone intimidates or causes harm to another person on purpose. The victims of bullying can be verbally, physically or emotionally assaulted and are often threatened and made to feel frightened.Bullying should not be viewed as an unfortunate but unavoidable part of school life. No child deserves to be bullied - it's unacceptable behaviour and can have a devastating effect on the victim. Most schools have an anti-bullying policy, so it's a good idea to be aware of the position adopted by your child’s school.
Bullying in school can include:
- verbal harassment - face to face, by phone, text or over the internet
- hitting, hair-pulling and kicking
- teasing and name-calling
- spreading rumours
- damaging possessions
- frightening and intimidation
- exclusion at playtime or from social events and network
Bullying - Are You Being Bullied?
It's the bullies who have a problem, not the people they target
The signs
Bullying takes many forms, like name-calling, hitting, spreading rumours, stealing, excluding people and turning someone's friends against them. Bullying via text or online is still bullying.It's not you, it's them
Although it's hard to feel sorry for bullies, it might help to understand that happy people don't need to make others feel unhappy or small. It's the bullies who have a problem, not the people they target. You really aren't on your own - unfortunately bullying is common. People get through it, and so will you. But it's got to stop.What to do
Speak out. You have the right to live without being tormented. Keep a diary of what happens. It'll help you decide what to do. It should also stop you missing out anything important and help show you're telling the truth.If you're being bullied through texts or phone calls, save messages and call records if you have space in your phone. If not, write down the time of the call/text, what was said/written and the caller/sender's number if you have it. And don't reply to any texts - it's just what the bully wants.
If you're being bullied online, don't respond to nasty comments. But as before, keep a record of everything you get sent by screenshotting or saving the messages.
