The Various Types of Bullying and How to Prevent It

What is Bullying?

Bullying can be termed as aggression that is physical or verbal that is done over and over again over a certain length of time. It differs from meanness in that it encapsulates an imbalance of power. Three out of ten young people suffer bullying, especially from grades six to twelve. Teachers often underestimate the extent to which bullying is taking place in their schools.

Are Parents Aware that Their Children are Being Bullied?

In only about half of the cases of bullying, parents are aware that their child is getting bullied. Bullying can present itself in four forms, and they include reactive, relational, verbal, and physical bullying.

Individuals with the social climber and high self-esteem characteristics tend to be bullies. Bullying should be discouraged in the workplace or schools through several approaches by work personnel, schools, parents, bystanders, and even the victims of bullying.

Types of Bullying

Bullying may involve an assault on a property by being taken or damaged. The following are the various types of bullying.

1. Reactive bullying is where a former victim of bullying becomes a bully.
2. Relational bullying includes isolation and exclusion from a social group. It may entail threats, rumors, and intimidation.
3. Verbal bullying is the weaponization of words to harm others. It could be threatening, taunting, comments that are sexual, insults, and calling others names.
4. Physical bullying may be attacking, pushing, kicking, or hitting others. The victims of bullying, depending on the intensity of their bullying, can become tainted for life and suffer long-term mental health consequences.

How to Prevent Bullying

Caregivers and parents can assist in the prevention of bullying. The following practices can be utilized in the prevention of bullying and ensure an effective response to the issue.

• Start early. It is common for young people and children to exhibit aggressive behavior and when these behaviors are not addressed, they could catapult into bullying.
• Engagement and warmth. Parents who spend little time with their children and do not make supervision of their activities, even at school, increase the tendency that their children could get involved in bullying.
• Discussion on bullying. Discussing the topic with children enables them to gain an understanding of what it is, what is wrong with it, and how they could respond to it if they ever got into such a situation.
• Set a good example. Children tend to mimic behavior and setting a good example could be a way of teaching them how to be respectful and kind.
• Make rules and expectations. Parents should develop clear rules and set expectations for their children and how they become expected to treat others.