Bullying defined
Bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior that usually happens among school-aged children. There are a wide range of bullying actions which include spreading rumors, attacking someone verbally, making threats, and attacking someone physically.
By definition, two things need to happen for aggressive behavior to be considered bullying:
Power imbalance — The aggressor uses whatever advantages or power they have to harm or control others. This includes things like knowledge of private information, popularity, and physical strength.
Repeated attacks — aggressive behaviors are repeated or leave the possibility for future attacks.
PHYSICAL BULLYING
Physical bullying is the act of using physical strength to exert power over others by causing bodily harm or damaging belongings. Out of the four types of bullying, physical bullying is typically the easiest to spot due to its visible actions and effects.
- Physical bullying actions include:Spitting; Tripping or shoving; Hitting; punching, slapping, or kicking; Stealing or breaking someone’s belongings;
- Verbal bullying: is when individuals or groups use abusive language to hurt, insult, ridicule, or embarrass another person or group of people. Verbal bullying, or verbal abuse, can be just as powerful as physical actions and lead to depression, low self-esteem, and other psychological issues.
- Social bullying; Social bullying is when one party tries to harm the reputation or relationships of another party. This is one of the hardest forms of bullying to recognize, as it’s often done behind the victim’s back. Aggressors are hard to identify; as gossip and rumors spread, it becomes difficult to pinpoint the source of them.
- Social bullying actions include: Spreading rumors or gossip;Exposing private information; Embarrassing someone in public and telling other people not to be friends with someone
Bullying has detrimental effects on students’ health, wellbeing and learning. Both the targets and initiators of bullying are at increased risk for adverse outcomes in the long-term, including early school leaving. Although most research in this area focuses on the impacts of bullying on initiators and targets, bullying may also impact negatively on bystanders, ie, those who witness bullying.
As parents, the basic keys you should pay attention to are the following:
- The child suddenly avoids school, certain places and people. The places where he was happy before, now he does not like them and he feels uncomfortable.
- He plays the sick frequently so he doesn’t have to face the situations he fears.
- His personality changes, he is increasingly withdrawn and passive. Although there may be a contrary situation and that he is increasingly active and aggressive.
- He does not control his body and constantly loses or breaks objects. It is not centered.
- He is very sad and cries more often.
- Contusions or injuries may be perceived, which he will try to hide.
- His grades have dropped notably in recent years, he does not perform in the same way.
- Important changes in your behavior: at bedtime, eating, spending a lot of time alone or mistreating siblings.
References
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