National Bullying Prevention Month

 

Join us in standing up for what is right and speaking out against bullying.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The goal is to unify teachers, parents and school administration, as all are needed, to raise and educate awareness of bullying prevention and harassment. Bullying, according to the National Centre Against Bullying {NCAB} is defined as an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behavior that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening. Bullying can happen at any age level from children at school or playing sports to adults in the workplace and online. Bullying can be overt, meaning obvious and in the open, or covert meaning hidden. Bullying is a repeated action or has the potential for being repeated over time. Identifying it and speaking up are the keys to stopping bullying in its tracks.

There are four types of bullying: verbal, social, physical, and cyber. 

Verbal - includes teasing, name-calling, taunting, threatening and sexual commentary. An example of this is using your mouth to say hurtful things. 

Social - includes spreading hurtful rumors and/or embarrassing someone in front of others. The easiest example of this is gossip, libel, or slander. Libel is gossiping in written form and slander is gossiping in spoken form. 

Physical - includes hitting, kicking, punching, stealing, or breaking someone’s property. Using your hands to inflict harm falls in this category. 

Cyber - includes sending or posting hurtful, embarrassing, or threatening text or images, using the internet, cellphones, or other digital communication devices. This can be one of the most covert and harmful types. 

People around you may not openly admit to being bullied due to shame, fear of repercussions by the attacker or thinking that it will just go away. There are some signs that indicate the possible occurrence of bullying:

• Resistance to attending school, activities, or work – 160,000 teens skip school each day because of bullying.
• Drop in self-esteem – majority of students bullied for their shape, race or looks
• Mysterious injuries that they don’t want to discuss
• Lost/destroyed clothing or possessions
• Financial loss due to attempting to “pay off” the bully

We need to be ever watchful and vigilant at the changing behaviors of those around us. Monitor the computer your child uses. If needed, talk to your HR {Human Resources} officer and get help. Bullying can be a quiet storm brewing with lifetime implications if left unresolved. 

For more information, visit StopBullying.gov