WHAT IS BULLYING?

Bullying is a serious problem that affects the daily lives of a person. Examples of bullying are
making threats, attacking someone physically or verbally, spreading rumors or anything that may ruin a
person’s image. This usually starts during the school age but can be also applied to all ages. The victim
will have a poorer relationships with their peers, more difficulty making friends and often feel lonelier
and more unsafe than those children who are not bullied.

There are types of bullying, the first one is physical bullying. Physical bullying it includes hitting,
kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property. The second one is verbal bullying. Verbal
bullying includes name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or verbal
abuse. The third one is social bullying. Social bullying icludes lying and spreading rumours, negative
facial or physical gestures, menacing or contemptuous looks, playing nasty jokes to embarrass and
humiliate, mimicking unkindly, encouraging others to socially exclude someone,and damaging
someone's social reputation or social acceptance.The last one is cyberbullying. Cyberbullying includes,
Abusive or hurtful texts emails or posts, images or videos, Deliberately excluding others online, Nasty
gossip or rumours,and Imitating others online or using their log-in.

Base on what I’ve read, 4 out of 10 children per day experience being made fun of, name calling,
and making the child do something he/she doesn’t want to do in the Philippines. Since the statistics
were quite alarming, so our government approved that elementary and secondary school implement
anti-bullying policies. The Philippines hold the fourth spot in countries which are high in cyber bullying.
Because of the increasing number of bullying cases, the Social Media Regulation Act of 2014 was made.
This is to address people who became a victim of a cyberbullying.

Parents, school staff, and other caring adults have a role to play in preventing bullying. The first
one is help kids understand bullying, talk about what bullying is and how to stand up to it safely. Tell kids
bullying is unacceptable. Make sure kids know how to get help. (Encourage kids to speak to a trusted
adult if they are bullied or see others being bullied. The adult can give comfort, support, and advice,
even if they can’t solve the problem directly. Encourage the child to report bullying if it happens). The
second one is keep the lines of communication open, Check in with kids often. Listen to them. Know
their friends, ask about school, and understand their concerns. (What was one good thing that
happened today? Any bad things?) The third one is encouraging kids to do what they love, special
activities, interests, and hobbies can boost confidence, help kids make friends, and protect them from
bullying behavior.( Help kids take part in activities, interests, and hobbies they like. Kids can volunteer,
play sports, sing in a chorus, or join a youth group or school club. These activities give kids a chance to
have fun and meet others with the same interests. They can build confidence and friendships that help
protect kids from bullying). The last one is learn how to treat others with kindness and respect.( Kids
learn from adults’ actions. By treating others with kindness and respect, adults show the kids in their
lives that there is no place for bullying. Even if it seems like they are not paying attention, kids are
watching how adults manage stress and conflict, as well as how they treat their friends, colleagues, and
families.)
What Is Bullying?

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived
power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids
who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.

In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

An Imbalance of Power:

Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or
popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different
situations, even if they involve the same people.

Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.

Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or
verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

Types of bullying

Physical bullying

Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, tripping, pinching and pushing or damaging property. Physical
bullying causes both short term and long term damage.

Verbal bullying

Verbal bullying includes name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, or
verbal abuse. While verbal bullying can start off harmless, it can escalate to levels which start affecting
the individual target. Keep reading in this section for techniques to deal with verbal bullying.

Social bullying

Social bullying, sometimes referred to as covert bullying, is often harder to recognise and can be carried
out behind the bullied person's back. It is designed to harm someone's social reputation and/or cause
humiliation. Social bullying includes:

lying and spreading rumours

negative facial or physical gestures, menacing or contemptuous looks

playing nasty jokes to embarrass and humiliate

mimicking unkindly

encouraging others to socially exclude someone

Cyber bullying

Cyber bullying can be overt or covert bullying behaviours using digital technologies, including hardware
such as computers and smartphones, and software such as social media, instant messaging, texts,
websites and other online platforms.

Cyber bullying can happen at any time. It can be in public or in private and sometimes only known to the
target and the person bullying. Cyber bullying can include:

Abusive or hurtful texts emails or posts, images or videos

Deliberately excluding others online

Nasty gossip or rumours

Imitating others online or using their log-in

Where and When Bullying Happens?

Bullying can occur during or after school hours. While most reported bullying happens in the school
building, a significant percentage also happens in places like on the playground or the bus. It can also
happen travelling to or from school, in the youth’s neighborhood, or on the Internet.

How to prevent a bullying?

1. Set Clear Rules Read more

Start your bully prevention program by setting clear rules together as a group. Everyone—staff,
students, parents, community—must be clear of expectations, know how to recognize bullying,
understand the consequences of bullying, and know that bullying matters. Sit down together and
figure out what your school stands for and establish that character matters in your school.

2. Teach How to Recognize Bullying Read more

3. Teach How to Report Bullying Read more

Kids must be able to safely report incidents of bullying, knowing when to report, how to report, and
where to report. Students must know that they will be heard and that you will back them up.
Anonymous options must be provided.

4. Teach How to Respond to Bullying Read more

Everybody—both students and staff—must know how to respond when they witness bullying.

5. Teach How to Refuse Bullying Read more

Help victims of bullying learn how to refuse; otherwise victimization continues. Do this by teaching
specific assertive skills.

6. Replace Current Beliefs or Behavior Read more

Teach bullies how to act differently—how to be kind. Develop empathy, conscience, and self-control
(anger management) in bullies