Nicknames such as “four eyes”, “put stop”, “nose”, “toothpick”, “cap” and many others have unfortunately been heard repeatedly by various children and adolescents.
The repetition of these nicknames by a group for a particular child is just one example of what we call bullying. The practice leads to exclusion and distances the little ones from activities and games that are essential for the development of every child.
The condition bullying it was first used in 1970 after a study by psychologist and professor Dan Olweus. In his research, the specialist spoke to several young people who had tried to take their own lives and found that most of them had felt intimidated by the nicknames received and even threatened.
What is bullying?
The expression created by Dan Olweus comes from the English word “bully” and means ‘bully’ or ‘bully’. In this way, bullying is characterized as the gestures performed repeatedly by one or more children, verbally or physically attacking a group or a child in front of other peers.
In childhood, bullying mainly occurs at school and according to 2015 data, 20% of students in Brazilian institutions have already bullied their peers. The study also found that the practice is higher among boys than girls. In boys, name-calling and even physical aggression is done openly, while girls tend to bully secretly, by whispering and gossiping.
In addition to these factors, bullying can manifest itself in different ways. Check out which ones they are below:
verbal bullying
They are the nicknames created based on the physical characteristics of the child and used to insult him in front of the class. The most common are “chubby,” “toothed,” “ears,” “skinny,” “four-eyed,” and “nose.”
Verbal bullying can also happen to disabled children, who are offended by their disability.
physical bullying
These are physical aggressions such as pushing, kicking, pulling and hitting. They usually happen in situations where the victim is unable to respond.
psychological bullying
Psychological bullying is demonstrated through threats, blackmail and discrimination. It is common for victims to give in to this type of bullying in the hope that the harassment will end.
plague material
It is the act of tearing, hiding or damaging objects belonging to the victim. In the classroom, this especially happens if the child who is being bullied is not present.
cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is the verbal aggression and threats that take place on the Internet. With technology increasingly present in the daily lives of alpha generationThis type of bullying is more common in pre-teens with profiles on social networks.
What are the consequences of bullying?
Bullying hinders the development of children because the child loses the will to go to school and feels insecure about his appearance. As a result, children are not motivated to participate in lessons and they miss activities and games, which directly affects the learning process.
In addition, suffering harassment and insults from classmates also harms the mental health of the child, which in some cases can lead to anxiety and depression.
Bullying distorts the way little ones see themselves and others. For this reason, children who are bullied in childhood find it more difficult to see their worth, develop a sense of belonging, and achieve complete happiness in adulthood.
If they do not receive psychological support, family and school support, children who bully will also be harmed in the future. This happens because the absence of values such as respect, empathy and compassion will reveal itself in the difficulty of social interaction in adult life.
To combat bullying, it is important that the school and the family work together to identify victims and perpetrators of bullying.
Below we provide an overview of the main behaviors of both children who are bullied and those who practice it. Checking out!
Signs that children are being bullied
- Decline in school performance;
- Lack of interest in school;
- Crying or sadness at the mention of the school environment;
- Behavioral changes;
- Problems in oral communication;
- excessive embarrassment;
- Changes in sleep and eating.
Signs of Kids Bullying
- Difficulty dealing with different opinions;
- Excessive anger at being contradicted;
- At school, they show affinity and common interests with few groups;
- They avoid contact with children who are outside their social circle;
- They lead episodes of teasing and jokes in the classroom;
- They show excessive self-confidence;
- They have a provocative and unstable profile.
What to do if your child is being bullied?
According to the Law No. 13.185 of 2015episodes of bullying should be addressed by raising awareness of the problem and welcoming children who are victims of and practitioners of systematic harassment.
For this reason, it is extremely important that both the family and the school welcome the child who is being bullied and listen to what he or she has to say. The attitude of the parents should show that the home is a safe environment for the child to share their feelings about the bullying they have suffered and to empower themselves to deal with this situation.
In turn, the school should also position itself with regard to bullying, try to identify the aggressors and invite them to participate in awareness-raising and debate actions about bullying.
In addition to the debate on systematic harassment, the family and school should also promote the development of social-emotional skills in children. Understanding their emotions and feelings helps the little ones in the process of self-knowledge and ensures a healthier social life.
What to do if your child is bullying?
To the parents and educators of children who bully: welcoming and engaging with these little ones is essential for a change of mentality.
Treating the child who is being bullied as a victim does not make the bully less entitled to psychological counseling and care. Both need help getting through bullying by developing values like empathy, respect, and resilience. In addition to discovering that together they are stronger to build an environment that values and respects differences.
For the outcome of the fight against bullying to be effective in all scenarios, it is necessary that the family and the choice work together.
Whether at home or in the classroom, reading is the key that opens the doors to different worlds and shows small and small new possibilities for thinking and acting.
in the custom book “The Order of the Bull Prince”developed by in historythe child becomes the protagonist and playfully learns the importance of respecting differences.
In an interactive way, the book tells the story of a child who has the difficult mission of delivering a secret box to the rudest and bullying prince in the region. Surrounded by good friends who inspire great courage, the child manages to make the bully realize how important it is to respect others in order to be happy and to have great people around.
Dentro da História drew attention to the importance of respecting and involving all children, especially those with some deformity, and developed an avatar with a cleft lip and palate, a birth defect found in some children.
Do you want to know the story and help fight bullying? Click here to customize your little one’s avatar.
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