There are four types of bullying that are common today:
Verbal Bullying : Name calling, threatening, and making comments about someone else's attributes.
Physical Bullying: Hitting, punching, slapping, touching someone else in inappropriate ways.
Relational Bullying: Causing harm through damage to one's relationship or social status.
Cyber Bullying: Takes place with the use of electronic devises. Cyber bullying can take place 24/7 through messages, posting pictures on social media sites.
We've all been bullied at some point in life. When my son was in elementary school he kept complaining about a kid who would call him names, but when I was around them this kid was so respectful to me I thought my son was overreacting. My son complained for a few years. Once in junior high the bully would bump into my son, make comments, and over all was harassing my son on a daily basis. One day they were playing football at school and my son finally had had it. They got into an altercation and it ended up in a suspension. No one was badly hurt, but the bully stopped picking on my son. Word in our small town had spread about the fight. I received messages on Facebook and texts from other parents how the bully had also tormented their children.
Just last week I had heard of a girl at a local high school who had a similar circumstance as my son and the dad taught his daughter how to fight. She and the bully got into a physical altercation and the bully ended up getting her ass kicked. The victim of the bullying ended up going to juvenile hall. No one wins here. We have to change how things are happening.
In order for bullying to stop where do we start as a society to help the bully change his/her behavior? The boy that was bullying my son came from a broken home. Not much of a father figure in his life. Not a lot of money. In my opinion he is angry and was taking his aggressions out on the other children in school because he could get away with it. It made him feel powerful where in his family life he was probably not.
We need to communicate.
Communication is key for most everything in life. For there to be resolution we have to talk about bullying with our children. Make sure they know that is isn't okay to tyrannize others. We need to talk to our children's teachers, principals, and other administration and the bully has to know there will be consequences for their actions.
If your child is a victim of bullying for several years you may want to seek counseling. Being bullied is abuse and can wreak havoc on the mental psyche. Don't just dismiss bullying as kids will be kids because in this day and age kids see and experience far more than they did 50 years ago.
The point I am trying to make here is that we as a society have to change the way we are handling bullying. We need to communicate with our children and teach them that if they see bullying to speak up. They do not have to call the bully out, but they can report it to school administration . If bullies aren't stopped sadly they may grow up to be bullies in the work place, abusive partners, or even worse mentally or physically abusive to their own children.
... And it is much worse than it was back in our day because kids these days have little respect for authority! I was bullied and survived with little damage but my daughter was bullied and got jumped (on campus) and wound up in the hospital. SHe ended up having to be removed from that school. It's just sad!
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