Ogochukwu Ugwu

· 29 Nov 2021

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How to stop bullying

When you hear of bullying what comes to your mind? School children making life a hell for a new student? Well, that's one accept of bullying.

Everyone can go through bullying at one point in time.

Who could be bullied?

Parents
Politicians
Celebrities
Children
Students
Youths

You can see the list is numerous

Types of bullying

There are different types of bullying and each can occur at different stages of life they are;

Physical bullying
This involves the use of punching, hitting, slapping and shoving, by a stronger and more aggressive bully, on his weaker victim. This is seen commonly among school children.

Verbal bullying involves the use of words, offensive statement by a bully to insult and devalue  his victims. Verbal bullying is common among adults.

Cyber bullying entails the use of Internet, mobile phones or social media to insult, embarrass and annoy someone through making hurtful posts about the victims.

Sexual bullying involves repeatedly making comments or actions that demean someone sexually. It sometimes comes in form of blackmailing.

The main aim of bullies is to make their victims powerless, angry and without a voice.

The focus of this post will be on
children/students.

How to stop bullying

Inculcate love and empathy in children
Children should be taught to love one another. When there is love in them, they can be able to have empathy for the weaker ones. 

 Parents and teachers should be observant and vigilant enough to be able to detect when there is a change in the character of a child.

The child shouldn't be punished immediately rather they should be made to understand the consequences of their actions and why they need to practice love and empathy towards others.

Be close to the students / children

Being close to a child is beyond knowing when he is hungry or when his cloth is dirty.

No. Being close to a child or your students means you must have the ability to know how they feel. It means being able to detect when their moods change.

If you can do this you will able to help the children solve some riddles and they can easily open up to you when someone threatens their happiness.

Build the students' confidence

Bullies easily attack students with low self esteem than the confident and brave ones.

Most children are introvert and as such always withdrawn from other extroverted students. Look out for such kids in your class.

Encourage them to join in extracurricular activities. They won't agree to join at first. But your continual reminder of the reasons they should join will propel them into participating with other kids.

Identify gateway behavior

These are the initiators of bullying. Identify these behaviors in your students fast to stop it damaging effects on time. The following behaviors should always be looked out for: name calling, eye-rolling, spying and stalking, pinching and frowning.

Have you being bullied before?  Have you gotten out of it? How were you able to do it?

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