Jerri
Aubry M.S., MFT
After a recent bullying event that happened at the school
in my area, I decided that I should write a series of articles regarding
bullying, and the effects of bullying on others.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics,
indicates that 1 in every 4 students are bullied. That 64% of children bullied
do not report these to anyone. Only 36% of children actually report bullying to
authorities such as a principal, school counselor, or the police. ⁴
- · Taunting
- · Teasing
- · Talking about negatively
- · Spreading rumors
- · Leaving kids out of being included
·
Attacking someone either physically or yelling
at them.
More than 77% of school aged children are being bullied
verbally, mentally, and physically at school. An average of 160,000 kids miss
school because of bullying or the fear of being bullied. ⁴
According to the article “11 Facts about Bullying,” only 1
in every 4 teachers see bullying as a problem, and only 4% intervene. My
personal opinion says that this needs to change in order for bullying rates to
begin to descend. ²
As a parent I think that the school needs to protect my
children and to stop the bullying. As a behaviorist, you must change the
environment in order to make changes in behavior. With that said, it is part of
the faculty at a school to become an advocate to change the environment at
school to lower bullying rates in the school.
Some children that are bullied might have a lower GPA and
struggle with school. Other children might get sick from the anxiety and vomit
both outside and in school to avoid going to or staying at school.
Does bullying lead to mass murders? Both at school and in
the community? There is evidence to support that some people who have been
bullied have committed a heinous act such as a school shooting. But that is for
another article that I will be talking about later in this series. School
shootings in the 1990’s indicate that 12 out of 15 school shootings were
related to bullying. ⁵
I
don’t really know how old I was when the bullying started, but it did effect my
self-esteem negatively. I remember a time when 5 years old, my mom left me with
my grandmother on my dad’s side, and she took me to work with her (she cleaned
house and was a nanny for a family of boys) one day. While she was cleaning the
house, the boys came out to the tree swing, and knocked me off. I fell onto my
butt, and one of the boys sat on my chest while the other two stuffed flowers
in my mouth. I can remember not being able to breath, and then I was stung in
the mouth by a bee.
Only 24% girls report being bullied compared to 20% boys
that report being bullied. Statistics show that girls may be bullied more often
than boys. Some may say that girls are more likely to tell someone about
bullying than a boy. There are several reasons for this including boys wanting
to be seen as being tough and don’t want to look like a wimp in front of peers.
ᵌ
As I became an adult —now in my 40’s with two boys of my
own— I thought I could protect my own children from bullying, but this was
untrue. As I tried to intervene, it just made things worse for my boys. So,
instead I tried to inflate their egos to make them feel better, but in reality
I knew that there really wasn’t much I could do to protect them.
So, instead I chose to teach them about bullying,
especially for children who become easy targets. I taught them to be able to
come home, and tell me about these bully attempts, but I knew I was only
hearing the jist of the story. I knew this, because I didn’t tell anyone when I
was bullied.
When my son started his sophomore year —the same kid at
lunch stood behind him— taunted my son once again. That day, I received a call
from the principal about the situation. I never knew he was having problems
until this phone call.
As the principal explained the situation, he told me that
this kid knocked my son’s lunch onto the floor. I guess this had been happening
every day of school. Until one day –this day– the principal calls me and tells
me that my son is not in trouble for what happened.
Now, those of you who know me, know that I do not promote
aggression. But this was the last time this kid bothered my son, and it ended
the decade of bullying that my son had been enduring. My son finally stood up
for himself, and stopped the bullying himself.
Thirty percent of teens in High School are bullied either
through being bullied themselves, bullying others, or bystanders. Seventy-seven
percent of bullying of school aged children are from verbal bullying. ¹
- · Yelling
- · Calling names
- · Teasing
- · Spreading rumors
Why am I sharing this with you all? Well, because bullying
is a part of most American. It has become a real problem leading kids to seeing
themselves as the problem. My son found the strength to change this on his own,
but he endured years of abuse—that I could not stop— and the school’s did
nothing about it.
I have worked many children in therapy that have endured
bullying at some level. Although I cannot change this for them at school, I can
help increase their self-esteem, and teach them how to cope with bullying.
Children can be bullied as soon as they begin any type of
school program even pre-school. My youngest son was bullied within a few months
of starting preschool. I mean really? preschool; he was only two years old. He
has not only withstood some dangerous bullying, but witnessed it happen to kids
with autism, ADHD, and mental retardation.
According to stopbullying.gov, children with ADHD are more
likely to bullied than other children and kids diagnosed with autism are at a
higher risk to be bullied and left out of activities. In general, 60 percent of
children with disabilities report being bullied as compared to the 25% of kids
without disabilities. ⁴
My son has shared most of his experiences with me. He chose
to help others as they were being bullied. He stood up to the other kids, and
then helped these kids tell the authorities what happened. This made me very
proud, as a mother, and as a person whom has worked with the developmentally
disabled population for more than 20 years.
Is your child being bullied? Were you bullied as a child?
Find help for your child, there are many programs to help children being
bullied. I will be following up with the effects on bullying later in this
series.
If you are being bullied call 1-800-273-talk(8255)
Did
you know that there is no federal law against bullying? Do you think there
should be one? Please share your thoughts
References
