Knowing the difference between bullying and normal childhood arguments and conflicts is important. It is all right to let your child learn to communicate and handle day to day conflicts between peers. The growing up process will have many such incidents that do not rise to the level of bullying. Some think that normal arguments are even healthy for children as they learn to negotiate and argue among themselves.
The Importance of Stopping Bullying At an Early Stage
If you want to stop bullying, you need to recognize what bullying really is. Note that it is normal for children to argue with each other as they to learn to communicate their ideas and their feelings. Arguments among children do not necessarily mean bullying.
If you see children arguing among themselves, you should pay close attention to what they are saying instead of stepping in immediately with the purpose of stopping bullying. Always remember that children should be allowed to argue and negotiate among themselves as part of the process of growing up. Normal arguments are healthy but then when somebody starts to degrade and harass somebody for the sole purpose of inflicting pain, this is no longer normal and must be stopped at once. Stopping bullying at an early stage is very important to prevent some serious damages. Note that children are very vulnerable creatures and they can easily get hurt.
Once a child gets seriously hurt through bullying, the effect of the incident could be difficult to reverse. In fact, in some extreme cases, a child who has been seriously harassed and humiliated by his or her peers could even think of committing suicide. There have been a number of reported cases of suicides among children due to bullying. It is therefore very important that people should recognize bullying at the earliest stage and put a stop to it.
The act of bullying shows the aggressive side of someone, it is not good for the bully or the bully’s victim and should be stopped whenever and as soon as possible. You can try to ignore the bully’s actions, you can act brave even when your not. These two methods will sometimes stop a bully because they are not getting the attention they are trying to get. Never show anger yourself. But if the bully continues their bullying, you will have to get help from someone you trust. A teacher, principal, or a parent can help you in these cases. The bully needs to be trained to not bully, and you can not only help yourself but you will be helping the bully in the long run too.
Ways to Stop Bullying
Stopping bullying at the earliest stage could save the lives of children. Parents and teachers should be very vigilant when it comes to stopping bullying at an early stage because children often feel powerless to stop the bully themselves. In most cases, children are even too scared to look at the bully or tell anybody how he or she feels about being bullied. Since children who are being bullied need help, it is now up to the parents, the teachers and the other people around these children to put a stop to the bullying.
Every time parents and teachers notice that children are becoming excessively harsh towards each other, they need to step in at once and try to resolve the conflict amicably. If one of the children is not willing to listen to reasons, it would be a good idea to take that child to a side and ask him or her in private what the problem is. Never embarrass the child in front of his or her peers because this could cause the child to retaliate.
What About the Bully?
Bullies usually end up in trouble, if they keep acting out in such hurtful and mean ways. They will most likely end up without any friends because no one likes a bully accept other bullies. Although bullies are good at blaming others and it may well be that the bully have themselves been bullied, but that is not a excuse for continuing the bully cycle. They may think that being a bully will make them popular but in the end they will discover that bullying only made others look on them as ‘Losers’ or troublemakers who they want to stay clear of. Bullies can change their behavior, they just need to be shown the right way to act, what is acceptable and what isn’t. They can learn to use their power in good ways. They need to learn to control their anger and their tongues. With the right training bullies can learn to become good or even great kids who have lots of friends.