Bullying should not be tolerated and it’s time to teach the young ones about it.

Incidents of bullying has been getting more rampant recently and in an extreme cases, has resulted in death of victims being bullied. Apart from death, victims, which are often a child or teenager has also suffered serious injury. The rise in social media and technology such as smartphones has helped bring these cases to light but this doesn’t tackle the root of the issue.

Educating children on bullying and how it is wrong, identifying children who bully, how to handle them and how to extend a helping hand to someone who is being bullied should be the way. Additionally, children who bully especially in the case of young children shouldn’t be punished because there may be a reason that they’re acting out and causing hurt to their peers.

To learn more about bullying and how to let your kids know, here’s some pertinent information.

What Is Bullying?

Bullying is when school-aged children behave in unwanted and aggressive ways and it involves one party being subjugated. Acts of bullying include using physical strength, using embarrassing information or their popularity to control or even harm their peers. Bullying behavior could also happen more than once.

Types of bullying include verbal forms such as teasing, name-calling, taunting, and making threats. Social bullying involves doing things that will hurt a person’s reputation or relationships by leaving them out of social events, telling other children to stop being friends with the victim, spreading rumours and public embarrassment. Physical bullying includes physically hurting another person’s body or possessions.

All these forms of bullying can happen at school, after hours or even during tuition classes. Furthermore, some may engage in cyberbullying which is often anonymous.

Warning Signs

There are certain signs that a child is being bullied or bullying others. It’s best to intervene as soon as possible before there is any escalation which may lead to further injury on both sides.

Signs a child is being bullied:

• Coming home with unexplainable injuries
• Lost or broken clothes, or possessions
• Frequently faking sick to get out of going to school
• Changes in eating habits
• Difficulty sleeping or having nightmares
• Slipping in their schoolwork, loss of interest
• Avoiding social situations or not having any more friends
• Low self-esteem
• Self-destructive behavior, self-harm, talking about suicide.

Signs a child is bullying their peers:

• Have friends doing something similar (bullying others)
• Involved in physical or verbal fights
• Becoming more aggressive
• Get punished by their school a lot
• Does not own up to their own mistakes
• Blame other people for their problems
• Excessively worried about their reputation or popularity

In addition to noticing the above signs in your child it’s important to talk to them and recognise the reasons why they’re doing this. Not all children are comfortable with talking about being bullied with an adult because it makes them feel helpless or they may fear backlash from the child who bullied them.

What To Do About Bullying?

Not just parents but the staff at school and other caring adults have an important role to play in helping to prevent bullying. It’s important to make it known that bullying is unacceptable and do encourage your child to help kids who are bullied by being kind and getting help by telling an adult in charge.

Ensure that you know about your child’s group of friends, their parents and your child’s classroom teacher. This makes it easier for you to keep your eye on your child’s relationships with their peers and if there’s anything worth worrying about, you’ll be able to contact an adult in charge to intervene.

At the same time, do encourage your children to do what they love because doing activities and indulging in hobbies can help boost their confidence and make friends which could protect them from bullying behavior.

One last thing to remember is that it’s not wrong to get help. If your child starts talking about suicide or you feel like you’ve hit a wall, do talk to a counsellor or a therapist who can provide professional help and solutions.