Tackling Bullying
Bullying can be:
- Verbal
- Physical
- Social
- Psychological
It often involves:
- Humiliation
- Domination
- Intimidation
- Victimisation
- Harassment including that based on religion, race, disability, sexual orientation or gender.
Online bullying can be through:
- Instant messaging
- Mobile phones
- Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter
- Websites and forums
Signs of Bullying
Remember 'SOS'
The following prompt focuses on 3 areas; SPORT, OBSERVATIONS and SAY.
S - Sports
- Is frightened of walking to or from sports activities or changes route
- Doesn’t want to go on the team/public bus
- Refuses to go to sports activities
- Suddenly starts asking to be driven to activities
- Begins to truant
- Performance begins to drop
- Has dinner or other monies continually ‘lost’
- Comes home ‘starving’
O - Observations
- Becomes withdrawn, anxious or lacking in confidence
- Becomes aggressive, abusive, disruptive or unreasonable
- Starts stammering
- Changes their usual routine
- Feels ill in the mornings
- Comes home with clothes torn, property damaged or ‘missing’
- Has unexplained cuts or bruises
- Bullying others
- Changes in eating habits
- Changes in a child’s attitude to accessing technology
- Afraid to use the internet or mobile phone
- Nervous or jumpy when a cyber message is received
S - Say: things they might say?
- Threatens or attempts suicide
- Threatens or attempts self harm
- Threatens or attempts to run away
- Cries themselves to sleep at night or has nightmares
- Asks for money or starts stealing money
- Is frightened to say what is wrong
- Gives improbable excuses for their behaviour.
If you are worried because you are witnessing these behaviours – then take action. Talk to your child; to the coach; to teachers and if appropriate talk to the parents of some of their close friends. Bullying is very rarely a complete secret.
H2b Safer Resource: Cyber Hero