To: Bullying From: My teenager!!

My 15 year old son recently completed his speech and came home with an excellent for his grade. To tell you the truth I thought he should have got brilliant ;-)

Bullying!!!!

Everyone has heard it before….. But what is it? What is the impact of bullying? What can be done to stop it?

My definition of bullying is a person or a group of people who intimidate someone by the use of verbal (point to mouth) or physical (smack hands together), or even the latest way to bully someone – cyber bullying (pull out cellphone)…..

The intention of a bully is to make the victim feel small and useless while making themselves feel big and powerful.

A recent study on bullying in New Zealand schools, based on interviews of 821 students aged 15–16 years old from 107 schools, showed that:

§   50% of those interviewed had been bullied,

§   33% admitted bullying others and

§   9% were bullied once a week or more.

To me and too many other people this is not acceptable for students to live with everyday.

If the purpose or the reasons of the bully are different from the ones I mentioned earlier, one thing that will NOT change, and I REPEAT will NOT change, is the negative impact it will have on the victim and the bully.

For the bully, it is proven they will go on to more criminal and antisocial behaviour such as fighting, vandalism and stealing.

For the victim, they often loose self esteem, start having trouble in school, and they even withdraw from friends and social activities. If the bullying is not stopped, and continues for long enough, victims of bullying can suffer these problems permanently.

Recently, a 13 year old student attending Morrinsville College was cornered and attacked by a group of bullies in the girl’s toilets. The victim was so severely beaten that she was left with a brain injury.

I believe more has to be done to stop bullying because nothing good comes out of it and nothing good ever will. We are the ones to stop it by;

1)   If you know someone who is bullying others, tell a teacher, tell a junior leader or prefect. It is part of their role to help us. Keep telling someone until they hear you, and

2)   Be a friend. Be the person that someone sees as the one they can tell and be prepared to tell someone, because bullying has to stop, and we are the ones to stop it.

In conclusion, I believe that bullying is no good and nothing good will come of it. With over 50% of 15-16 year olds being bullied, it has to stop. If you know a bully, tell someone, and be prepared to stand against them. The very least all of us can do, is to be a friend, and the one that will help to make the bullying stop.