Cyber Bullying & School Bullying » bullying prevention

Can text message be a form of bullying?

admin — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:00:09 +0000

The answer is yes. Sending hurtful, rude, or mean text messages to others is cyberbullying. Since children and teenagers are so involved in their digital world, a text message can spread like a wild fire. Parents need to spend time to educate themselves and their children what kind of digital behavior is acceptable, and what kind is not.

It’s impossible to monitor the kids’ text messages. The best way is to inform them in advance what kind of messages are considered to be cyberbullying. While the government, schools, and communities are fighting against cyberbullying, a careless text message can be taken seriously if it causes harm to the recipient. Educate your children is the best way to prevent harm them and to others.

Being bullied can hurt both emotionally and physically

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 00:56:43 +0000

For most people, being bullied means emotional pain during childhood or teenage years. But recent research has shown that being bullied during those years can have effects on the victims even after they become adults. Bullying not only hurts someone emotionally, but also physically. For school teachers, counselors, and parents, if you notice the following signs, don’t ignore them. The child that you’re concerned about could be experiencing bullying in and out of school. If you notice signs of sadness, hurt feelings, loneliness, depression, take note and ask questions.

Many children, especially girls are being teased about their weight in school. If you notice poor body image, low self-esteem, find out why. In many cases, bullied victims experience stomach aches, and anxiety, have trouble sleeping. If you notice any of the above, talk to the child.

Use anonymous questionnaire to students about bullying

admin — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:38:31 +0000

It is often hard for adults such as parents and teachers, and school administrators to figure out when bullying is more likely to happen and the types of bullying that do happen. We often get surprised when a situation happens.

The best way to fight bullying is through bullying prevention. But unless we know where to look and how to prevent, there’s not much we can do. Using anonymous questionnaire to students about bullying is a good start. Ask your students to fill out a survey that will point you to the right direction.

Findings can help motivate adults to take action against bullying;
Data can help administrators and other educators tailor a bullying prevention strategy to the particular needs of the school; and
Data can serve as a baseline from which administrators and other educators can measure their progress in reducing bullying.

Source: Department of Health & Human Services

What to do if you think that you’re being bullied in school

admin — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 22:04:45 +0000

If you think that you’re being bullied in school, don’t panic. The most important thing to do is to tell. Tell your parents, or other trusted adults. Tell your teacher, counselor, and principal. Then you need to protect yourself. This is hard to do, but there are a few simple tips:

Try to avoid situations in which bullying is likely to happen. For instance, avoid areas to go where there are no teachers or many other students around. Never go into the locker or bathroom by yourself. Sit near the front of the bus. Never show people that you carry lots of money. Sit and walk with friends. Never walk the same route to where you need to do. If you have to, then walk with friends.

Group treatment for bullies doesn’t usually work

admin — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:58:55 +0000

As more school administrators take bullies seriously, more group treatment plans are emerging. But often these group treatment plans are counter productive. Although they were well intentioned, not all programs help the victims or the bullies. These programs usually include anger management, skill-building, empathy-building, and seeking ways to build the self-esteem of bullies. Since children learn from each other and take role models, by putting a group of children who bully together encourages that kind of behavior.

Group therapy doesn’t work for bullying victim either. Individualized therapy work much better to cater each child’s needs. There’s no short cut to fix bullying behaviors quickly.

Source: Department of Health & Human Services

Bullying happens in out-of-school programs too

admin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:42:34 +0000

Bullying not only happens in school, it also happens in out-of-school programs too. Because out-of-school time programs fill the gap for working parents, communities are concerned about how and where youth spend their free time. Professionals and volunteers in this field cover a diverse range of activities and organizations.

Because children spend some time in these facilities, parents should be aware that children and youth are also involved in bullying in out-of-school time programs. Because there is less supervision, bullying is more likely to happen. Youth-serving professionals and volunteers should be made aware of the bullying situation in these organizations.

Source: Department of Health & Human Services

Law enforcement officers can help stop bullying

admin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:46:57 +0000

Law enforcement officers, like other adults, should be concerned about the effects of bullying on children. Research indicates that bullying can cause health, psychological, and educational problems for children who are bullied.

If the adults ignore the problem, the children who are bullied are more likely than other children to be depressed, lonely, and anxious; have low self-esteem; be absent from school; feel unwell; and think about suicide. There are long effects on these children also.

Law enforcement officers can work with school administrators to create a bullying prevention initiative. Many school administrators will not believe bullying happens in their schools. As law enforcement officers, you might need to do facts finding to convince themselves.

Source: Department of Health & Human Services

There’s no short term or simple solution to prevent bullying

admin — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:51:03 +0000

It’s true that schools have their primary goal of educating children. Bullying is just one of the issues that the school administrators face. Often, school administrators and their staff adopt a short-term, piecemeal approach to bullying prevention. By introducing some lessons and assembly, schools try to prevent and solve the issues simply. But bullying is not a simple matter.

Although these simple efforts such as staff inservice training, a PTA meeting, a school-wide assembly, or lessons taught by individual teachers can get the anti-bullying programs going, they are far from the long term solution. For schools to prevent and stop bullying, a comprehensive, long-term bullying prevention strategy must be implemented. If possible, the school climate and its exceptions for student behavior needs to be changed.

Source: Department of Health & Human Services

How do parents ask their child about being bullied in school

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 02:35:38 +0000

As parents, if you notice some unusual behaviors your child has, please take note. It could be a sign of being bullied in school. If your child appears anxious and suffers from low self-esteem or even has low appetite, pay attention to him. You can learn more about the warning signs here.

Once you confirm the warning signs, talk to your child right away. Here are some ways to start the discussion:

Tell your child that you’re worried about him or her. Ask them whether there are other kids in school who pick on them, tease them in a mean way, or leave them out for activities.

Ask them whether they have any good friends at school, do those friends pick on them or act mean to them.

Start the conversation by asking simple questions.

Source: Department of Health & Human Services

What do adults do to if they hear or see bullying?

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:55:08 +0000

Many adults probably have seen and heard bullying happening around them, but they are not sure the best way to stop bullying. Here are some tips that can help you to make the best out of the situation.

1. Stop the bullying immediately. Separate the children. But don’t ask the reason yet.

2. Tell the bullies that their behavior was bullying and let them know it is against school rules.

3. Make the bullied child feel supported and safe.Talk to him or her in private later on.

4. Never encourage the children to sort things out. Bullying is not a conflict.

If you see bullying happening , take action and let other adults such as teachers and counselors know.